cease
Americanverb (used without object)
-
ceases,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ceased,
past participle, past
-
ceasing
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
ceases,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ceased,
past participle, past
-
ceasing
present participle
noun
idioms
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ceasesimple
-
ceasessimple
-
have ceasedperfect
-
has ceasedperfect
-
am ceasingprogressive
-
are ceasingprogressive
-
is ceasingprogressive
-
have been ceasingperfect progressive
-
has been ceasingperfect progressive
Past
-
ceasedsimple
-
had ceasedperfect
-
was ceasingprogressive
-
were ceasingprogressive
-
had been ceasingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cease
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”; see cede
Explanation
To cease is to stop or end. Your gym teacher may have trained the class so well that all chattering will cease every time she blows her whistle. Cease comes from the Old French cesser, which means "come to an end," "go away," "give up," or "yield." Although cease often appears in the past tense with "-ed," cease is common for talking about things as they come to an end. A dead plant has ceased living, and if you cease watering the rest of the plants, they will cease to exist too.
Vocabulary lists containing cease
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Syngenta said it would pay back the Scottish Enterprise funding in full if operations cease at the site.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
While the measure doesn’t entail the permanent closing-off of the Brazilian market, operators will likely have to cease their operations in the meantime, they said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
But a professional firm will always have a trust manager available to take on the role, and if they cease operations, it would pass to another company.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
District Judge Indira Talwani granted requests from the states and the independent groups to halt the plans from being implemented nationwide, issuing a preliminary injunction requiring the Postal Service to cease all work on them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
“Alter Rosen, you never cease to surprise me.”
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Martínez Celaya added that he is particularly intrigued with the gray zone where “childhood ceases to be, and adulthood hasn’t come yet.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
But once competitors agree on what is “safe enough,” safety ceases to function as a competitive metric.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Dostoevsky follows the narrator over four nights and a morning during which he ceases living in his imagination and embraces reality for the first time.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
Researchers refer to this phenomenon as Goodhart’s law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
If one is continually surviving the worst that life can bring, one eventually ceases to be controlled by a fear of what life can bring; whatever it brings must be borne.
From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
“The ‘strong’ version of the dead internet conspiracy theory claims that online activity is entirely disconnected from human activity because our society ceased to exist some time ago.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026
Few organizations had imagined the destruction of an entire financial district, the loss of personnel, technology, communications and records, and the need to preserve public confidence while much of the city’s infrastructure had ceased functioning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Negotiations with the Lakers ceased when Leonard’s uncle, Dennis Robertson, requested a house, the use of private aircraft, guaranteed off-court earnings and an ownership stake in the team, according to the Athletic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Facing the sea, Havana's famous Malecon seawall has ceased to be a promenade for tourists or lovers.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
After what seemed like weeks, I went back to school, by which time the elections had been won, the breakfasts ceased, and my classmates had found someone else to tease.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Ferguson’s Law states that “any great power that spends more on debt servicing than on defense risks ceasing to be a great power.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
Given all that, I was somewhat surprised to see heartfelt eulogies for the mail-order racket when Columbia House announced it was ceasing operations later this year.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
Samsung Electronics is ceasing sales of televisions and home appliances in China due to fierce competition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, told reporters Thursday that the talks starting would be “contingent” upon hostilities ceasing in Lebanon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
I reckoned there must be a million minor dramas playing out around the place without ceasing.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
