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surcease

surcease

1 9.9
An end to something bad, for example pain or fighting
  • noun
  • /ˈsɜrˌsiːs/
  • Archaic
translation icon : cesación
  • If the Soviets would not take up the challenge, so much the better for the Reagan administration's public relations position and panting governments in Belgium, Holland, and West Germany seeking surcease from their anxious electorates.
  • surcease from pain

Examples

  • Vainly I had sought to borrow from my books, surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore.

  • For ninety years, the blood has flowed with no sign of surcease.

    Blog text (8)
  • A brief surcease from struggle.

  • After work, Forrest found no surcease in the girls with whom he had grown up.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Be merciful and give her surcease.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The Black professional male comes home hoping to receive surcease from the tensions and pressures of the workday.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Yet the mimetic component of the speaker's character is highly restricted; his main trait is his desire for surcease.

    Academic text (1990)
  • We are stumbling through the foothills of affection, back through time, back to the beginning before Jack and Jill went up the hill, before you met him, before you loved him, where love ceases and there is surcease from pain.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • No doubt she was aiming for my cheek, as she's often insisted, but you'll understand when I say that the pleasure of that moment of surcease was ineffable.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • After months of hard work, she finally found a surcease from her stress during the peaceful vacation.

Synonyms

stop
vssurcease
310 1.0

An act when something ends or pauses

focuses on the complete ending rather than a short pause
cessation
vssurcease
29 7.2

The end of something that is happening

is the same meaning expressed as an alternative single word
discontinuation
vssurcease
2 6.3

Stopping something for a short time or forever

does not specify whether the stopping is temporary or permanent

Antonyms

56 3.6

An act of something keeping going without stopping

1.0

Something that is at the first stage of a process

How Complete

termination
  • Formal
56 4.7
surcease
  • Archaic
1 9.9
stop
310 1.0
halt
109 2.3
interruption
99 3.0
pause
192 1.0

Surface Forms

surcease singular
surceases plural

Morphology

surcease = cease (semi-transparent) = sur + cease

The noun is clearly related to the verb 'cease', but 'sur-' is not a productive modern English prefix and the word is literary/archaic.

Etymology

Surcease comes from the old parts sur- 'over' and cease 'stop'. So, surcease is like a complete stopping or end, which is why it means a 'cessation'.