cease
/sis/verb
cease is spelled C-E-A-S-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,784th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, cease means “To stop” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in cease?
| Letters | 5: C-E-A-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,784th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is cease?
Cease appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,784th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cease?
- US /sis/
- UK /siːs/
Cease has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-cease.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with cease?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cease from its last stressed vowel (/is/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of cease
- ceases present, singular, he/she/it
- ceasing participle, present
- ceased participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cease mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To stop.
And with that, his twitching ceased.
- 2
To stop doing (something).
And with that, he ceased twitching.
- 3
obsoleteTo be wanting; to fail; to pass away, perish.
noun
- 1
obsoleteCessation; extinction (see without cease).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cease in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cesser, s'arrêter |
| German | aufhören , einstellen |
| Portuguese | cessar , parar |
| Spanish | cesar, parar, terminar , dejar de, cesar de |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cease come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).