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cease

(sēs)

v. ceased, ceas·ing, ceas·es

v.tr.

To put an end to; discontinue: The factory ceased production. See Synonyms at stop.

v.intr.

1. To come to an end; stop: a process that never ceases.

2. To stop performing an activity or action; desist: "fold our wings, / And cease from wanderings" (Tennyson).

Cessation; ceasing: We worked without cease to get the project finished on time.

[Middle English cesen, from Old French cesser, from Latin cessāre, to stop, frequentative of cēdere, to yield; see ked- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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