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Moratorium vs Embargo - What's the difference?

moratorium | embargo |

As nouns the difference between moratorium and embargo

is that moratorium is an authorization to a debtor, permitting temporary suspension of payments while embargo is an order by the government prohibiting ships from leaving port.

As a verb embargo is

to impose an embargo on trading certain goods with another country.

moratorium

English

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (legal) An authorization to a debtor, permitting temporary suspension of payments.
  • A suspension of an ongoing activity.
  • Canada may put a moratorium on cloning for research.
  • * 1990 , Gerhard Falk, Murder, an Analysis of its Forms, Conditions, and Causes , McFarland.
  • It so happened that at that time the moratorium on the death penalty caused by the Supreme Court decision in the Furman case was still in effect.

    embargo

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • An order by the government prohibiting ships from leaving port.
  • A ban on trade with another country.
  • * 2004 , , Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage
  • Instead he [Jefferson] proposed an embargo , an end to all trade between America and England.
  • A temporary ban on making certain information public.
  • * This copy of the federal budget is under embargo until 2 p.m.
  • Verb

  • To impose an embargo on trading certain goods with another country.
  • To impose an embargo on a document.