Surcease
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Cessation; stop, stopping; end. Respite, intermission. countable, uncountable
"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."
- 2 a stopping wordnet
- 1 To come to an end; to desist. intransitive
"[…] 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:"
- 2 To bring to an end. transitive
"The vvaves obedient to theyr beheaſt, / Them yielded ready paſſage, and their rage ſurceaſt."
Example
More examples"If 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; that but this blow / Might be the be-all and the end-all here, / But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, / We'd jump the life to come."
Etymology
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.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.