cease

[ sees ]

verb (used without object)

ceased, ceasing.

1. to stop; discontinue:

   Not all medieval beliefs have ceased to exist.

   Antonyms: begin

2. to come to an end:

   At last the war has ceased.

   Synonyms: culminate, end, terminate

   Antonyms: begin

3. Obsolete. to pass away; die out.

verb (used with object)

ceased, ceasing.

1. to put a stop or end to; discontinue:

   He begged them to cease their quarreling.

noun

1. cessation:

   The noise of the drilling went on for hours without cease.

cease

/ siːs /

verb

1. whentr, may take a gerund or an infinitive as object to bring or come to an end; desist from; stop

noun

1. without cease
   without stopping; incessantly

Word History and Origins

Origin of cease¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English ces(s)en, from Old French cesser, from Latin cessāre “to leave off,” equivalent to cess(us) (past participle of cēdere “to withdraw, go”; cede

Word History and Origins

Origin of cease¹

C14: from Old French cesser, from Latin cessāre, frequentative of cēdere to yield, cede

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. never cease to amaze. never cease to amaze.

More idioms and phrases containing cease

In addition to the idiom beginning with cease , also see wonders will never cease .

Example Sentences

They are rapidly ceasing to be any kind of cohesive ethnic constituency and becoming more defined as economically populist voters.

From Los Angeles Times

Jawlani even assured Russia its Syrian bases would remain unharmed if attacks ceased.

From BBC

This lower dose still led to harmful effects in the brains of mice, even after exposure ceased for months.

From Science Daily

Pharma Foods withdrew its notice so it could “conduct further studies,” and the FDA ceased its second evaluation of the product.

From Los Angeles Times

Last week, the US and France said the agreement would “cease the fighting in Lebanon, and secure Israel from the threat of Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations operating from Lebanon”.

From BBC

Related Words

• break off
• desist
• discontinue
• fail
• halt
• quit
• refrain
• terminate