cede
Americanverb (used with object)
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cedes,
present (3rd person singular)
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ceded,
past participle, past
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ceding
present participle
verb
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to transfer, make over, or surrender (something, esp territory or legal rights)
the lands were ceded by treaty
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(tr) to allow or concede (a point in an argument, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cedesimple
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cedessimple
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have cededperfect
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has cededperfect
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am cedingprogressive
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are cedingprogressive
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is cedingprogressive
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have been cedingperfect progressive
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has been cedingperfect progressive
Past
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cededsimple
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had cededperfect
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was cedingprogressive
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were cedingprogressive
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had been cedingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cede
First recorded in 1625–35, cede is from the Latin word cēdere “to go, yield”
Explanation
To cede is to give up or surrender land, position, or authority. "She reluctantly ceded the coveted position as the baby of the family to her brother when he was born. She would not, however, cede her bedroom to him." Cede is a word often used in discussing diplomatic issues. It is more commonly used in reference to actual physical things, like geographic areas or objects, but can also be used in reference to attitudes or opinions. "The rebels ceded territory after the siege failed." "Dad tried but finally ceded control and let me have my own Facebook account."
Vocabulary lists containing cede
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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:
Never one to cede the spotlight, Trump returned to the stage on Thursday night after Vance to round off the convention.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
Importantly, integrating Claude into Salesforce’s platform causes Salesforce to cede control of its user interface layer in some ways; the company must give up control of where users access Salesforce data from, for instance.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
Gracious of George Lucas to cede turf to the one movie as beloved as “Star Wars.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
REYKJAVÍK, Iceland—For years, Icelanders looked with suspicion at the European Union, loath to cede sovereignty to Brussels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Nor can I see why historians should cede many of the most interesting questions to other disciplines—politics, philosophy, sociology—simply because they require a consideration of beginnings and endings.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
As OpenAI matures, anticipate it will inevitably build an in-house advertising software platform to capture the spend it currently cedes to third parties.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026
However, the union said Disney’s OpenAI deal “appears to sanction its theft of our work and cedes the value of what we create to a tech company that has built its business off our backs.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
How companies respond will determine whether the US continues to lead in innovation and talent - or cedes ground to more welcoming economies.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2025
Fleet and amusing, alive to childhood’s exploratory nature, it also regrettably cedes dramatic ground at a curious point.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
A monarch or a state cedes territory perhaps for a consideration; surrenders an army, a navy, or a fortified place to a conqueror; a military commander abandons an untenable position or unavailable stores.
From English Synonyms and Antonyms With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions by James Champlin Fernald
Yet Ford has been increasingly interested in sedans, a vehicle category that Detroit automakers have ceded to foreign competitors such as Toyota and Honda.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
London and Madrid have disputed control of Gibraltar since the tiny territory -- known affectionately as "The Rock" -- was ceded to Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
The company fell behind during the rise of the mobile internet and ceded ground to rivals making processors for smartphones, data center servers and other devices in recent years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Every one of the 13 penalties England conceded sapped their momentum, ceded territory and ratcheted up pressure.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
The bill ceded a large measure of control over atomic research to the military.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
That war of wills ended with the Emirates ceding control of Bab el-Mandeb — along with the nearby island of Perim, where the Emirates had built a drone airbase — to Saudi Arabia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
While chip stocks were bouncing on Tuesday and software stocks were ceding some ground, neither move unwinds the extent of Monday’s performance.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
The Yosemite NPS Employees Union said it was "appalled" by the ceding of public lands for private interests, calling the proposed trade "antithetical to what we stand for" as stewards of the park.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Once in office, she championed issues that had mattered to him, including ceding control of the Panama Canal.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
The ceding was so high, it was lost in the gloom and layers upon layers of spiderwebs.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
