(ceases, ceasing, ceased)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
If something ceases, it stops happening or existing. (FORMAL)
At one o'clock the rain had ceased.
= halt
VERB: V
2.
If you cease to do something, you stop doing it. (FORMAL)
He never ceases to amaze me...
A small number of firms have ceased trading.
VERB: V to-inf, V -ing
3.
If you cease something, you stop it happening or working. (FORMAL)
The Tundra Times, a weekly newspaper in Alaska, ceased publication this week.
= stop
VERB: V n