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:
President William Ruto had set today as the deadline for foreigners operating small-scale businesses to cease work.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
“Jason Isbell’s musical identity does not cease to be his property merely because sophisticated technology is involved,” the lawsuit says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
They say without an agreement, dams on the river that are used to generate hydropower could cease to function.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
Last month, Dawn Buckingham, who leads the General Land Office, sent a cease and desist letter to CBP and a federal contractor she said had illegally cleared GLO-owned land in Presidio County.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
I make out which locker it is and wait for Skeezie to cease his lurking and scurry away.
From "The Misfits" by James Howe
This jackpot portrayal of working motherhood never ceases to be a thrill for me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 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
Every assignment, he explains, ceases to be an individual endeavor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
But when war becomes literally continuous, it also ceases to be dangerous.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Even during his incarceration, the former food chemist never ceased his political activity on social media, particularly on his YouTube channel, which has 162,000 subscribers.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
This will be the first such security review for Meghan since she and Prince Harry ceased being working royals when they moved to the US in 2020.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Some trucking companies have ceased doing business, and many more will likely fail if high fuel costs do not subside soon.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
The author’s fondness for masculine attire and habits—she enjoyed smoking cigars—has never ceased to generate ticklish speculation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
He ceased, noticing that Rick was once again hauling out his test gear.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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
“Perhaps the smallest sip from the kettle Odrerir would give me the lyrical skills to conjure your beauty for generations still to come,” he suggested, his sobs ceasing.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
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.
