Definition of "showstopper" []

• Informal A performance or performer that evokes so much applause from the audience that the show is temporarily interrupted. (noun)
• Informal A particularly arresting person or thing, especially one that draws attention away from others or brings a course of action to a halt. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But the showstopper is the 1,450-square-foot Robert Louis Stevenson Suite, with its front-to-back picture windows on three sides -- the joint has helicopter views from the bathtub."
• "Yet the showstopper is the most eccentric look: Mona Bismarck 's aqua green Balenciaga gown with sleeves of blooming pink petals from 1968."
• "Much like the original, the showstopper is the group zombie dance segment, but I gotta say, damn if a bunch of plastic bricks don’t make for a better actress than Ola Ray, too."