surcease
/səˈsiːs/US/ˈsɝˌsis/
surcease noun: cessation; stop, stopping; end. Respite, intermission.
Noun
surcease (countable and uncountable, plural surceases)
- Cessation; stop, stopping; end. Respite, intermission.
- And first of all, it is more then time, there were an ende and surcease made of this immodest and deformed manner of writting latelie entertained, whereby matter of religion is handled in the stile of the stage.1589, Francis Bacon, “An advertisment touchinge the controversies of the Church of England”, in Frank J. Burgoyne, editor, Northumberland Manuscripts, London: Longmans, Green & Co, published 1904...
- It it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well / It were done quickly: if the assassination / Could trammel up the consequence, and catch / With his surcease success;c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
Verb
surcease (third-person singular simple present surceases, present participle surceasing, simple past and past participle surceased)
- To come to an end; to desist.
- […] this distilled liquor drink thou off; / When presently through all thy veins shall run / A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse / Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- And instantly the storm surceases, the heavens clear, the sun comes forth in splendour, as a king entering the audience-hall, and sheds the glory of his presence over ship and sea and land.1899, Zénaïde A. Ragozin, Frithjof, The Viking of Norway in Frithjof, The Viking of Norway and Roland, The Paladin of France, Tales of the Heroic Ages, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Chapter 9, p. 67
- To bring to an end.
- The vvaves obedient to theyr beheaſt, / Them yielded ready paſſage, and their rage ſurceaſt.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 31
- Death dvvels vvithin vs, and if gentle Peace / Diſcend not ſoone, our ſorrovves to ſurceaſe, / Latium (alreadie quaild) vvill be deſtroyd.1594, Robert Garnier, translated by Thomas Kid [i.e., Thomas Kyd], Pompey the Great, His Faire Corneliaes Tragedie: […], London: […] [James Roberts] for Nicholas Ling, published 1595, →OCLC, act I...
Examples of surcease in a sentence
- […] vainly I had sought to borrow / From my books surcease of sorrow1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y.; London...
- He was apt to have these sudden surceases, following upon the intensities of his earlier interest […]1910, William Dean Howells, chapter 6, in My Mark Twain: Reminiscences and Criticisms, New York: Harper & Bros., page 23:
- [Joe Stork, delivering a baby via taxiplane:] Why should I wear my wings out, when modern ingenuity offers surcease?1934 July 27, George Herriman, Krazy Kat, comic strip, →ISBN, page 199:
- For the individual who wishes to live in his time, to be a part of the future, the super-industrial revolution offers no surcease from change.1970, Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, Bantam Books, page 217:
Forms of surcease
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | surceases |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | surceases |
| present participle | surceasing |
| past participle | surceased |
| past | surceased |
Origin of surcease
From Anglo-Norman surseser, from Old French sursis, past participle of surseoir, from Latin supersedēre. Spelling later influenced by association with unrelated cease, which likely also influenced the meaning. Related to supersede.
Words that rhyme with surcease
Questions about surcease
- What does surcease mean?
- Surcease means cessation; stop, stopping; end. Respite, intermission.
- How do you use surcease in a sentence?
- […] vainly I had sought to borrow / From my books surcease of sorrow
- What part of speech is surcease?
- Surcease can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce surcease?
- Surcease is pronounced /səˈsiːs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of surcease?
- The plural of surcease is surceases.
Words near surcease in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: surcease (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-surcease.wav.
Cite this entry: “surcease.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/surcease. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.