Moratorium

[mawr-uh-tawr-ee-uh m, -tohr-, mor-] /ˌmɔr əˈtɔr i əm, -ˈtoʊr-, ˌmɒr-/

noun, plural moratoria
[mawr-uh-tawr-ee-uh, -tohr-, mor-] /ˌmɔr əˈtɔr i ə, -ˈtoʊr-, ˌmɒr-/ (Show IPA), moratoriums.
1.
a suspension of activity:
a moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons.
2.
a legally authorized period to delay payment of money due or the performance of some other legal obligation, as in an emergency.
3.
an authorized period of delay or waiting.
/ˌmɒrəˈtɔːrɪəm/
noun (pl) -ria (-rɪə), -riums
1.
a legally authorized postponement of the fulfilment of an obligation
2.
an agreed suspension of activity
n.

1875, originally a legal term for “authorization to a debtor to postpone payment,” from neuter of Late Latin moratorius “tending to delay,” from Latin morari “to delay,” from mora “pause, delay,” from PIE *mere- “to hinder, delay.” The word didn’t come out of italics until 1914. General sense of “a postponement, deliberate temporary suspension” is first recorded 1932. Related: Moratorial.
moratorium [(mawr-uh-tawr-ee-uhm)]

A period of delay agreed to by parties to a dispute or parties who are negotiating. A moratorium may also be an authorized delay in the repayment of a loan, especially by a nation (as in a moratorium on war debts).