cease
verbnouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//siːs//
- United States//sis//
To stop.
verb
- 1
To stop.
And with that, his twitching ceased.
After a short while, it ceased to rain.
- 2
To stop doing (something).
And with that, he ceased twitching.
- 3
obsoleteTo be wanting; to fail; to pass away, perish.
The poor shall never cease out of the land.
[...] wherefore ceaſe we then? / Say they who counſel Warr, we are decreed, / Reſerv'd and deſtin'd to Eternal woe;
’Twere best at once to sink to peace, Like birds the charming serpent draws, To drop head-foremost in the jaws Of vacant darkness and to cease.
Etymology
Etymology tree Latin cēdō Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tos Latin -tus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin -tō Latin cessōder. Middle French cesserbor. Middle English cesen English cease From Middle English cesen, cessen, from Middle French cesser (“to cease”), from Latin cessō (“leave off”), frequentative of cēdō (“to leave off, go away”). Compare secede.
noun
- 1
obsoleteCessation; extinction (see without cease).
the cease of majesty
Forms
- past tense
- ceased
- past participle
- ceased
- present participle
- ceasing
- third person singular
- ceases