Cessation

How to spell cessation

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce cessation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cessation mean?

1. nounThe ending or stopping of something, especially a process or activity.

Cessation in a sentence

• The treaty called for an immediate cessation of hostilities along the border.

• The doctor noted a marked improvement after the cessation of smoking.

Where does cessation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin cessatio, with its stem cessation-, meaning 'a ceasing' or 'a stopping'. That noun was built on the verb cessare, 'to stop, hold back, or delay', which was itself a frequentative form of cedere, meaning 'to go, withdraw, or yield'. English took the word from Old French cessation in the late 1300s, keeping the formal legal and administrative flavour it still carries today. The same cedere root quietly underlies a large family of English words, including 'cease', 'recede', 'concede', and 'proceed'. The spelling trap lives in that first syllable: the doubled 's' carries over from the Latin cess- stem, even though the everyday relative 'cease' has only one 's' before its silent 'e'.

How the word is built

• cess- (from Latin cessare: to stop, leave off)
• -ation (noun of action)