Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to stonewall
Participle: stonewalled
Gerund: stonewalling
Cognates
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Indicative
Present
| I | stonewall |
| you | stonewall |
| he;she;it | stonewalls |
| we | stonewall |
| you | stonewall |
| they | stonewall |
Perfect
| I | have stonewalled |
| you | have stonewalled |
| he;she;it | has stonewalled |
| we | have stonewalled |
| you | have stonewalled |
| they | have stonewalled |
Past
| I | stonewalled |
| you | stonewalled |
| he;she;it | stonewalled |
| we | stonewalled |
| you | stonewalled |
| they | stonewalled |
Pluperfect
| I | had stonewalled |
| you | had stonewalled |
| he;she;it | had stonewalled |
| we | had stonewalled |
| you | had stonewalled |
| they | had stonewalled |
Future
| I | will stonewall |
| you | will stonewall |
| he;she;it | will stonewall |
| we | will stonewall |
| you | will stonewall |
| they | will stonewall |
Future Perfect
| I | will have stonewalled |
| you | will have stonewalled |
| he;she;it | will have stonewalled |
| we | will have stonewalled |
| you | will have stonewalled |
| they | will have stonewalled |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | stonewall |
| you | stonewall |
| he;she;it | stonewall |
| we | stonewall |
| you | stonewall |
| they | stonewall |
Perfect
| I | have stonewalled |
| you | have stonewalled |
| he;she;it | have stonewalled |
| we | have stonewalled |
| you | have stonewalled |
| they | have stonewalled |
Imperfect
| I | stonewalled |
| you | stonewalled |
| he;she;it | stonewalled |
| we | stonewalled |
| you | stonewalled |
| they | stonewalled |
Pluperfect
| I | had stonewalled |
| you | had stonewalled |
| he;she;it | had stonewalled |
| we | had stonewalled |
| you | had stonewalled |
| they | had stonewalled |
Conditional
Present
| I | would stonewall |
| you | would stonewall |
| he;she;it | would stonewall |
| we | would stonewall |
| you | would stonewall |
| they | would stonewall |
Perfect
| I | would have stonewalled |
| you | would have stonewalled |
| he;she;it | would have stonewalled |
| we | would have stonewalled |
| you | would have stonewalled |
| they | would have stonewalled |
Imperative
| you | stonewall |
| we | Let's stonewall |
| you | stonewall |
Verbs conjugated like 'stonewall'
abandon,
abduct,
abear,
aberr,
abject,
abord,
abort,
abound,
abraid,
abray,
abrook,
abscind,
abscond,
absist,
absorb,
abstain,
abstract,
accend,
accent,
accept, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'stonewall'
enwall,
firewall,
forecall,
forewalk,
forwall,
inwall,
moonball,
moonwalk,
signall,
slow-walk,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
From Middle English stonwal, stone wall, stanewalle (“wall made of stone”), from Old English stānweall (“stonewall”), equivalent to stone + wall. The alcoholic drink (sense 3) was perhaps named thus because its effect was as potent as running into a stone wall.
Sample Sentences
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Either the thing to be stonewalled must be itself a bad thing, or it must be stonewalled as the only means of preventing some other wrong being committed; obviously, paying the public creditor was no wrong, and the budget, if wrong, could be effectually obstructed by stonewalling the financial resolutions. [1876 January–October, “Public Affairs”, in The Melbourne Review, volume 1, Melbourne, Vic.: Samuel Mullen, 55 & 57 Collins Street East, →OCLC, page 244:]
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At the press conference, the Prime Minister appeared to be stonewalling when asked about tax increases.
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As he becomes defensive or stonewalls in return, she feels frustrated and angry, and so adds contempt to underscore the strength of her frustration. As her husband finds himself the object of his wife's criticism and contempt, he begins to fall into the innocent-victim or righteous-indignation thoughts that more and more easily trigger flooding. To protect himself from flooding, he becomes more and more defensive or simply stonewalls altogether. But when husbands stonewall, remember, it triggers flooding in their wives, who feel completely stymied. [1996, Daniel Goleman, “Intimate Enemies”, in Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, paperback edition, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, part 3 (Emotional Intelligence Applied), page 141:]
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Even so, the rematch was a cliffhanger. It was marked by Kasparov’s increasing anger and frustration at the behaviour of IBM, which stonewalled against his requests for printouts of the machine’s logs of completed games. [2017 June 4, John Naughton, “Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins by Garry Kasparov – review”, in The Guardian:]
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Two weeks later, they said they were unable to provide answers and politely passed on the opportunity to talk to me. / It’s unclear why they stonewalled me; maybe the recent lawsuits have executives tight-lipped. [2022 April 20, Mariella Rudi, “Tostitos Hint of Lime has zero lime – but it’s still the perfect chip”, in The Guardian:]
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The silence that follows begins to feel awkward. It's one of several moments where Yaccarino stonewalls. [2023 September 30, Hannah Murphy, “The wildest job in Silicon Valley”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18:]