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Inaction vs Pause - What's the difference?

inaction | pause |

As nouns the difference between inaction and pause

is that inaction is want of action or activity; forbearance from labor; idleness; rest; inertness while pause is a temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.

As a verb pause is

to interrupt an activity and wait.

inaction

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Want of action or activity; forbearance from labor; idleness; rest; inertness.

    • Related terms

    * inactive * inactively * inactivity

    References

    * *

    pause

    English

    Verb

    (paus)
  • To interrupt an activity and wait.
    • When telling the scary story, he paused for effect.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
    • Tarry, pause a day or two.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
    • pausing while thus to herself she mused
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=15 citation , passage=She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough!
  • To hesitate; to hold back; to delay.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
    • Why doth the Jew pause ? Take thy forfeiture.
  • To halt the play or playback of, temporarily, so that it can be resumed from the same point.
    • to pause a song, a video, or a computer game
  • (obsolete) To consider; to reflect.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
    • Take time to pause .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
  • * , chapter=23
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}
  • A short time for relaxing and doing something else.
  • Hesitation; suspense; doubt.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • I stand in pause where I shall first begin.
  • In writing and printing, a mark indicating the place and nature of an arrest of voice in reading; a punctuation mark.
  • A break or paragraph in writing.
  • * (John Locke) (1632-1705)
    • He writes with warmth, which usually neglects method, and those partitions and pauses which men educated in schools observe.
  • (as direct object) take pause': hesitate; give ' pause : cause to hesitate