moratorium

See also: Moratorium and moratórium

English

WOTD – 12 April 2010

Etymology

New Latin from Late Latin morātōrium, noun use of the neuter of morātōrius (“moratory, delaying”), from Latin moror (“I delay”), from mora (“delay”), from Proto-Indo-European *mere (“to delay, hinder”). See also moratory.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌmɒ.ɹəˈtɔː.ɹɪəm/, /ˌmɔː.ɹəˈtɔː.ɹɪəm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌmɔ.ɹəˈtɔ.ɹi.əm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

moratorium (plural moratoriums or moratoria)

1. (law) An authorization to a debtor, permitting temporary suspension of payments. [from 19th c.]
2. A suspension of an ongoing activity. [from 20th c.]

   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.

   • 2023 March 22, “Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter”, in Future of Life Institute‎^[1]:

     If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.

Synonyms

• (suspension of an ongoing activity): hiatus, interruption, recess; see also Thesaurus:pause

Translations

authorization permitting temporary suspension of payments

• Arabic: اِسْتِمْهَال m (istimhāl)
• Belarusian: марато́рый m (maratóryj)
• Danish: moratorium (da) n
• Finnish: lyhennysvapaus
• French: moratoire (fr) m
• German: Moratorium (de) n
• Hungarian: moratórium (hu), haladék (hu)
• Icelandic: greiðslustöðvun f, frestur (is) m, stöðvun (is) f
• Italian: moratoria (it) f
• Korean: 지불정지(支拂停止) (jibuljeongji), 지불연기(支拂延期) (jiburyeon'gi), 지불유예(支拂猶豫) (jiburyuye)
• Latvian: moratorijs m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: moratorium n

• Occitan: moratòri m
• Portuguese: moratória (pt) f
• Russian: морато́рий (ru) m (moratórij), отсро́чка по платежа́м и фина́нсовым обяза́тельствам f (otsróčka po platežám i finánsovym objazátelʹstvam)
• Spanish: moratoria (es) f
• Ukrainian: морато́рій m (moratórij)

suspension of an ongoing activity

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: марато́рый m (maratóryj)
• Bulgarian: морато́риум (bg) m (moratórium)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 暫停／暂停 (zh) (zàntíng), 中止 (zh) (zhōngzhǐ), 停止 (zh) (tíngzhǐ)

• Czech: moratorium (cs) n
• Dutch: moratorium (nl) n
• Finnish: keskeytys (fi), kielto (fi)
• French: moratoire (fr) m
• German: Moratorium (de) n
• Hungarian: felfüggesztés (hu), leállítás (hu)
• Japanese: モラトリアム (ja) (moratoriamu), 停止 (ja) (ていし, teishi)
• Korean: 모라토리엄 (moratorieom)
• Latvian: moratorijs m
• Macedonian: мораториум m (moratorium)
• Maori: auporotanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: moratorium n

• Polish: moratorium (pl) n
• Russian: морато́рий (ru) m (moratórij)
• Slovak: moratórium n
• Spanish: moratoria (es) f
• Swedish: moratorium (sv) n
• Ukrainian: морато́рій m (moratórij)

Further reading

• Moratorium on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Moratorium in the 1905 edition of the New International Encyclopedia.

Danish

Alternative forms

• moratorie

Noun

moratorium n (singular definite moratoriet, plural indefinite moratorier)

1. moratorium

Declension

Declension of moratorium

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	moratorium	moratoriet	moratorier	moratorierne
genitive	moratoriums	moratoriets	moratoriers	moratoriernes

Synonyms

• (suspension of payments): henstand
• (suspension of an ongoing activity): stop

References

• “moratorium” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “moratorium” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

moratorium m (plural moratoriums)

1. moratorium

Further reading

• “moratorium”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

moratorium n (definite singular moratoriet, indefinite plural moratorier, definite plural moratoria or moratoriene)

1. moratorium

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

moratorium n (definite singular moratoriet, indefinite plural moratorium, definite plural moratoria)

1. moratorium

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.raˈtɔ.rjum/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔrjum
• Syllabification: mo‧ra‧to‧rium

Noun

moratorium n

1. moratorium

Declension

Declension of moratorium

	singular	plural
nominative	moratorium	moratoria
genitive	moratorium	moratoriów
dative	moratorium	moratoriom
accusative	moratorium	moratoria
instrumental	moratorium	moratoriami
locative	moratorium	moratoriach
vocative	moratorium	moratoria

Further reading

• moratorium in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• moratorium in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Swedish

Noun

moratorium n

1. moratorium

Declension

Declension of moratorium
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	moratorium	moratoriet	moratorier	moratorierna
Genitive	moratoriums	moratoriets	moratoriers	moratoriernas

References

• moratorium in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• moratorium in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)