What does "cess" mean?
An assessed tax, duty, or levy; billeting.
Cess
/sɛs/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An assessed tax, duty, or levy; billeting.
- Grammar: cess is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: assessment, contribution, duty, imposition.
- Usage evidence: A good example of homonyms in Portuguese are the words "sessão", "seção" and "cessão".
How to use "cess"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "cess" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "cess" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "cess" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "cess" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "cess" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "assessment" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "cess", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An assessed tax, duty, or levy; billeting. British, India, Ireland
"EUDOX[US] But what is that which you call Cess? it is a Word sure unused amongst us here; therefore (I pray you) expound the same. IREN[EUS] Cess is none other than that which you yourself called Imposition, but is in a kind unacquainted perhaps unto you; for there are Cesses of sundry sorts: one is the Cessing of Soldiers upon the Countrey; [...] Another kind of Cess is, the imposing of Provisions for the Governours Housekeeping, [...]"
- 2 The area along either side of a railroad track which is kept at a lower level than the sleeper bottom, in order to provide drainage.
"In April 1923, he was working with a gang of five others in Glasgow on the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). They were told to walk in the cess. But as it wasn't clear, they walked on the sleepers, each carrying a 70lb lifting screw on his shoulder. McGuinness was struck by a train and killed for want of a safe path."
- 3 Usually preceded by good or (more commonly) bad: luck or success. British, Ireland, informal
""Bad cess may attend you, where are you scampering to, you rambunctious"—but she could go no farther; the tears burst from her, and she gave way, without farther resistance, to an explosion of grief."
- 4 A bog, in particular a peat bog. dialectal, obsolete
- 5 Bound; measure. obsolete
"The poor jade is wrung in the withers out of all cess."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 A piece of peat, or a turf, particularly when dried for use as fuel. dialectal, obsolete
Verb
- 1 To levy a cess. British, Ireland
"...according to the quantity thereof, we may cess the said rent and allowance issuing thereout."
- 2 To cease; to neglect. obsolete
"And therefore, if there be lord, mesne, and tenant, and the tenant doth cess, and the mesne takes a wife and dies, his wife shall not have dower of the tenancy..."
Example
"A good example of homonyms in Portuguese are the words "sessão", "seção" and "cessão"."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "cess"?
Common synonyms include: assessment, contribution, duty, imposition, impost, levy.
How do you use "cess" in a sentence?
A good example of homonyms in Portuguese are the words "sessão", "seção" and "cessão".
How do you pronounce "cess"?
Pronounced /sɛs/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
For the first meaning below, the writings of Edmund Spenser, published 1633, point to a borrowing from Irish cís (“tax, tribute, cess, rent”), likely from Latin census. Other senses: Uncertain. Occurs in print at least as early as 1831, when Samuel Lover used the expression as one already long-established. He unambiguously stated the derivation of cess in the malediction bad cess to be an abbreviation of success. The OED speculated that it either was from success or from assessment meaning a military or governmental exaction. The verb is attested in Middle English (cessen).
Etymology 2
Possibly from an archaic dialect word meaning “bog”. According to the OED, from earlier suspiral (“water pipe, setting tank”).
Etymology 3
From Middle French cesser. See cease.