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
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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:
"These provocative attacks, which threaten Saudi Arabia's sovereignty and security and target the sacred values of the Islamic world, must cease immediately and unconditionally."
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Hundreds of jobs are under threat in Grangemouth after an agricultural chemical firm announced plans to cease operations at the site.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 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
NYU Langone Health and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center committed to cease providing medical and surgical procedures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Your bright eyes bear down on me without cease, on behalf of the quick and the dead.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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
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
Yet the drag on the bottom line ceases after chips are fully depreciated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 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
Their duties are terminated, and their pay ceases.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
“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
It weakened rapidly and ceased to be a hurricane but its remnants threw heavy rain across the eastern side of North America.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Abroad, it meant travel, the Grand Tour, and a flow of tourist funds to those countries that has never ceased.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 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
I assumed that Mrs. Ivy was talking to me and not to the medium-crossword-puzzle lady, but I had no intention of leaving, and in any case, it all ceased to matter.
From "Louisiana's Way Home" by Kate DiCamillo
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
Toddy didn’t go to school but instead spent his days in a corner of his room, clutching the ragged remnant of an old quilt and rocking himself 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.
