The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - stemэ v.

1) check, stop, halt, stanch or staunch, arrest, stay, curb, control, quell, suppress; retard, slow, lessen, diminish, reduce, cut (back (on) ) : The government introduced legislation to stem immigration. I was able to stem the bleeding by applying the tourniquet. 2) stem the tide (of) . resist, withstand, go or make headway or advance or make progress against, prevail over or against: They were unable to stem the tide of public opinion.