Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cease and desist

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.01 in modern English

Syllables: cease and de-sist
IPA

18

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To stop and not resume an action.

noun

A written demand that a party stops and does not resume a certain behavior, such as copyright infringement, slander, or libel, threatening legal action if the recipient fails to do so.

noun

An order by a government agency, sanctioned by a court, that one must stop and not resume a certain (usually illegal) behavior.

American usage

Example Sentences

"We are told to cease and desist or we will cease to exist."
"She received a cease-and-desist from his solicitors soon after the podcast."
"His remarks did not stop the courts from issuing the cease-and-desist order."

Etymology

From cease (“stop”), and desist (“to not do again”). The noun sense can be viewed synchronically as an ellipsis of cease-and-desist order.

Usage

American usage

Inflected Forms

ceases and desists (present, singular) ceasing and desisting (participle, present) ceased and desisted (participle, past) ceased and desisted (past) cease-and-desist (canonical)

Frequently Paired Words

C&D

Questions

What does cease and desist mean?: To stop and not resume an action.
Where does cease and desist come from?: From cease (“stop”), and desist (“to not do again”). The noun sense can be viewed synchronically as an ellipsis of cease-and-desist order.

How to pronounce cease and desist

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