cess
1 Americannoun
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British. a tax, assessment, or lien.
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(in Scotland) a land tax.
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(in Ireland) a military assessment.
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(in India) an import or sales tax on a commodity.
verb (used with object)
noun
noun
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any of several special taxes, such as a land tax in Scotland
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the obligation to provide the soldiers and household of the lord deputy with supplies at fixed prices
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any military exaction
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verb
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(tr) to tax or assess for taxation
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(formerly in Ireland) to impose (soldiers) upon a population, to be supported by them
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of cess1
1400–50; late Middle English; aphetic variant of obsolete assess assessment, noun use of assess (v.)
Origin of cess2
First recorded in 1855–60; perhaps aphetic variant of success
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.
“It’s become a mandatory part of my routine,” said Cess, age 41, whose perimenopause symptoms include brain fog, vertigo, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia and acute difficulty regulating her temperature.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 11, 2025
Kelly Cess, an editorial director at the vitamin-and-supplement company Olly, reserves a quiet room each Tuesday, her in-office day, after commuting on San Francisco’s packed public transit.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 11, 2025
Agency for International Development — which shifted its efforts from water and sanitation projects to the Ebola fight — said when he went to River Cess in Liberia in October, his lodgings were stoned.
From Washington Times • Sep. 7, 2015
Doctors Without Borders has documented similar problems, saying that contact tracers in rugged River Cess County did not have cars or SIM cards for their cellphones.
From Washington Post • Dec. 23, 2014
Cess is a mere contraction of cessibility, which signifies the quality of receding, and may very well stand for yielding, as spoken of a tumour.—p.
From Famous Reviews by Johnson, R. Brimley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
