Defense against stress and active suppression of growth are two complementary strategies by which plants respond to adverse environments. Although beneficial for plant survival, active growth inhibition is often undesirable for crop productivity. Compared with the knowledge on how plants defend against stress-caused cellular impairment, much less is known about how stress signaling regulates plant growth and vice versa. Here, we review recent progress in this area and discuss recent studies suggesting that reciprocal regulation between stress-response and growth-control pathways occurs at multiple levels. Understanding this regulatory network will be critical for resetting the balance between stress resistance and growth in order to engineer stress-resistant and high-yielding crops. Defense against stress and suppression of growth are complementary strategies by which plants respond to adverse environments. Although beneficial for plant survival, active growth inhibition is often undesirable for crop productivity. Zhang et al. review recent progress in this area and discuss the reciprocal regulation between stress-response and growth-control pathways.