moratorium

See also: Moratorium and moratórium

English

WOTD – 12 April 2010, 12 April 2011

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mo‧ra‧to‧ri‧um

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^[2]:

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

   • 2025 July 1, Matt Brown and Matt O'Brien, “Senate strikes AI regulatory ban from GOP bill after uproar from the states”, in AP News‎^[3]:

     Proponents of an AI moratorium had argued that a patchwork of state and local AI laws is hindering progress in the AI industry and the ability of U.S. firms to compete with China.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• postmoratorium

Related terms

• moratory

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
• Japanese: モラトリアム (ja) (moratoriamu)
• 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 — see also adjournment

• Armenian: ^{(please verify)} մորատորիում (moratorium)
• 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
• Danish: moratorium (da) 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)
• Māori: 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
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: آرالق (aralık)

• 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. (law) moratorium (authorization permitting temporary suspension of payments)
2. moratorium (suspension of an ongoing activity)

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 (France (Lyon)):

  (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

Indonesian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /moratoˈrium/ [mo.ra.t̪oˈri.ʊm]
• Rhymes: -um
• Syllabification: mo‧ra‧to‧ri‧um

Noun

moratorium (plural moratorium-moratorium)

1. moratorium
2. moratory

Derived terms

• moratorium penebangan
• moratorium perekrutan

Further reading

• “moratorium”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [mɔ.raːˈtoː.ri.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [mo.raˈtɔː.ri.um]
• Hyphenation: mo‧rā‧tō‧ri‧um

Adjective

morātōrium

1. inflection of morātōrius:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

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

Alternative forms

• moratorjum (pre-reform orthography (1936))

Etymology

Etymology tree

English moratoriumbor.

Polish moratorium

Borrowed from English moratorium. First attested in 1814.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.raˈtɔ.rjum/

• Audio:

  (file)

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

Noun

moratorium n (related adjective moratoryjny)

1. (law) 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
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “moratorjum”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861, volume I, page 679
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1902), “moratorjum”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 2, Warsaw, page 1040
• moratorium in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego
• Woliński, Marcin; Saloni, Zygmunt; Wołosz, Robert; Gruszczyński, Włodzimierz; Skowrońska, Danuta; Bronk, Zbigniew (2020), “moratorium”, in Słownik gramatyczny języka polskiego [Grammatical Dictionary of Polish]‎^[4], 4. online edition, Warszawa

Swedish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

moratorium n

1. moratorium (suspension of an ongoing activity)

Declension

Declension of moratorium

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	moratorium	moratoriums
	definite	moratoriet	moratoriets
plural	indefinite	moratorier	moratoriers
	definite	moratorierna	moratoriernas

References

• “moratorium”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “moratorium”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)