cease-fire
Americannoun
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cease-fires
plural
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a cessation of hostilities; truce.
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Military. an order issued for a cease-fire.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cease-fire
First recorded in 1840–50; noun use of verb phrase cease fire
Explanation
When two warring countries take a short break from killing each other's soldiers, it's a cease-fire. Often part of peace talks, a cease-fire is a temporary pause in a battle. Any time a commander orders troops to stop firing their weapons, that's a cease-fire. The noun, in fact, comes from a military command: "Cease fire!" Cease means "stop," from the Latin cessare, "go slow or leave off." Another name for a cease-fire is a truce; it can be an informal agreement to delay any violence for the time being, or part of an official treaty between nations and the end of a war.
Vocabulary lists containing cease-fire
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for January 19–January 25, 2025
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 24–March 1, 2024
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for August 17–August 23, 2024
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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:
The countries were close to an agreement until, poof, the cease-fire blew up at the last minute with each side blaming the other.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Plunge in gas prices during recent Iran cease-fire brought some relief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
“For me, I think it’s over,” he responded when asked about the cease-fire.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
To sustain current prices, Yilmaz said the cease-fire needs to hold, negotiations need to continue and commercial shipping through the Gulf needs to keep normalizing without any renewed attacks or disruptions.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
Mum and Dad must've called a weird cease-fire while we'd been in the kitchen 'cause after the washing up they sat at the table and seemed to be talking normally about the day and stuff.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
While investors walk on eggshells anticipating Fed decisions, tariff relief, and evanescent cease-fires, one company is steadily feeding investors nutritious dividends, cash flows, and earnings per share growth.
From Barron's ● Dec. 11, 2025
The unwillingness of either side to concede on key points has left both cease-fires stuck in their early stages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
At the same time, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces will “continue to firmly enforce the cease-fires in the north and south.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2025
Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia—have hammered out elaborate, precisely detailed plans for cease-fires, hostage-for-prisoner exchanges, and diplomatic moves beyond that.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2024
Hope of cease-fires, and of life going on.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2023
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.
