cease
UK/siːs//sis/
cease verb: to stop.
Verb
cease (third-person singular simple present ceases, present participle ceasing, simple past and past participle ceased)
- To stop.
- And with that, his twitching ceased.
- After a short while, it ceased to rain.
- Synonyms:
- discontinue, hold, terminate, absolve, complete, conclude, consummate, do, end, finalize
- To stop doing (something).
- And with that, he ceased twitching.
- Synonyms:
- arrest, discontinue, absist, belay, blin, break off, cess, cheese it, come to an end, desist
- To be wanting; to fail; to pass away, perish.
- The poor shall never cease out of the land.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 15:11
- [...] wherefore ceaſe we then? / Say they who counſel Warr, we are decreed, / Reſerv'd and deſtin'd to Eternal woe;1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
Noun
cease
- Cessation; extinction (see without cease).
- the cease of majestyc. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
Proper noun capitalized: Cease
Cease (plural Ceases)
- A surname from German.
cease meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
cease in Hindi
- to cease, stop, shut down
- ठपना ṭhapnā
- to cease, end
- थमना thamnā
- to cease, to extinguish, to vanish, to be settled or subdued
- मरना marnā
cease in Tamil
- நிறுத்து, முடித்துக்கொள், முடிவுறு
cease in Urdu
- ختم کرنا, رکنا
cease in Bengali
- থামা, বন্ধ করা
More languagesFewer languages
- cease in Telugu
- చాలించు cāliñcu, విరమించు viramiñcu
- cease in Malayalam
- നിൽക്കുക nilkkuka, നിർത്തുക niṟttuka
- cease in Kannada
- ಸಾವಗಿಸು, ನಿಲ್ಲು, ಅರು, ತೀರು
- cease in Punjabi
- ਰੁਕਣਾ rukṇā, ਲਹਿਣਾ lahiṇā
- cease in Odia
- ଦମିବା damibā
- cease in Sanskrit
- व्यथ् vyath, शम् śam
- cease in Tagalog
- hinto
- cease in Arabic
- زَالَ zāla
- cease in Persian
- متوقف شدن, متوقف کردن
Examples of cease in a sentence
- To everyone's great relief, the tuneless carol singers finally ceased their warbling.
- Over time, he froze towards her, and ceased to react to her friendly advances.
- The rain ceased as if a faucet had been turned off.
Synonyms of cease
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of cease
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | ceases |
| present participle | ceasing |
| past participle | ceased |
| past | ceased |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | ceasest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | ceasedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | ceaseth |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Ceases |
Origin of cease
From Middle English cesen, cessen, from Middle French cesser (“to cease”), from Latin cessō (“leave off”), frequentative of cēdō (“to leave off, go away”). Compare secede.
Probably an Americanized form of German Zies.
Words formed from cease
- cease and desist
- ceasefire
- ceaseless
- ceaser
- never cease to amaze
- unceasable
- unceased
- unceasing
- without cease
- wonders never cease
Phrases with cease
Words that rhyme with cease
Questions about cease
- What does cease mean?
- Cease means to stop.
- What is cease in Hindi?
- Cease in Hindi is ठपना (ṭhapnā), थमना (thamnā), मरना (marnā). See Cease meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is cease?
- Cease can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce cease?
- Cease is pronounced /sis/ (US).
- What is the past tense of cease?
- The past tense of cease is ceased.
Words near cease in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cease (page history and authors); Cease (page history and authors); ठपना (Hindi) (page history and authors); cease (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cease (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cease (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); చాలించు (Telugu) (page history and authors); cease (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਰੁਕਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ଦମିବା (Odia) (page history and authors); व्यथ् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cease.ogg.
Cite this entry: “cease.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cease. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.