give (one) pause

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give (one) pause

To cause one to take a moment to consider something; to cause one to hesitate. I'd love to buy a house, but the fact that I'd have to completely deplete my savings account to do it gives me pause. That statistic should give everyone pause.
See also: give, pause
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

give someone pause (for thought)

Fig. to cause someone to stop and think. When I see a golden sunrise, it gives me pause for thought. Witnessing an accident is likely to give all of us pause.
See also: give, pause
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

give pause

Cause one to hesitate, as in The high monthly installment payments gave me pause, or, as Shakespeare put it in Hamlet (3:1): "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come ... Must give us pause." [c. 1600]
See also: give, pause
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

give pause to, to

To stop temporarily; to hesitate; to hold back in order to reflect. This term, too, comes from Shakespeare, from Hamlet’s famous soliloquy on death (3.1), “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come . . . must give us pause.” Eric Partridge said it has been a cliché since the mid-nineteenth century.
See also: give, pause, to
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
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References in classic literature ?
CHORUS The plea thou urgest, needs must give us pause, Set forth in weighty argument, but we Must leave the issue with the ruling powers.
View in context
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Lastly, you want to change what you can, while you still can, for as Shakespeare says "for what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause".
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While not heavy-handed by any means, what Raph and Vanellope experience in the Internet reflect what happens to us in the real world, and it is enough to give us pause and think.
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Taken together, the mixed findings "give us pause for thought," he said.
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Abortion is a tragedy on many different levels, and that is something that should give us pause for somber reflection.
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These words of Paul should give us pause in our headlong rush to change the marriage canon, for they remind us both about who we are and what we are to be about.
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The results of the Peacock-Chambers paper alone should give us pause rather than our blindly accepting results of a trial just because it has appeared in a peer-re viewed journal.
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The book's title, which gives a nod to Hamlet, 'When we have shuffled off this mortal coil./Must give us pause' suggests that this is story saturated in intelligent layers.
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The effects of climate change on bumble bees should give us pause."
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While more research is needed to determine whether phthalates actually cause diabetes, this association is enough to give us pause. Keep looking for natural, phthalate-free products.
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As Christians, this should give us pause. Hopefully, we will contemplate and discuss what role Christians will/should play in answering these questions.
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