Cease vs. Stop

Cease vs. Stop — Is There a Difference?
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Difference Between Cease and Stop

Ceaseverb

To stop.

And with that, his twitching ceased.

Stopverb

(intransitive) To cease moving.

I stopped at the traffic lights.

Ceaseverb

To stop doing (something).

And with that, he ceased twitching.

Stopverb

(intransitive) To not continue.

The riots stopped when police moved in.Soon the rain will stop.

Ceaseverb

To be wanting; to fail; to pass away.

Stopverb

(transitive) To cause (something) to cease moving or progressing.

The sight of the armed men stopped him in his tracks.This guy is a fraudster. I need to stop the cheque I wrote him.
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Ceasenoun

(obsolete) Cessation; extinction.

Stopverb

(transitive) To cause (something) to come to an end.

The referees stopped the fight.

Ceasenoun

(`cease' is a noun only in the phrase `without cease') end

Stopverb

(transitive) To close or block an opening.

He stopped the wound with gauze.

Ceaseverb

put an end to a state or an activity;

Quit teasing your little brother

Stopverb

To adjust the aperture of a camera lens.

To achieve maximum depth of field, he stopped down to an f-stop of 22.
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Ceaseverb

have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical;

the bronchioles terminate in a capillary bedYour rights stop where you infringe upon the rights of otherMy property ends by the bushesThe symphony ends in a pianissimo

Stopverb

(intransitive) To stay; to spend a short time; to reside or tarry temporarily.

to stop with a friendHe stopped for two weeks at the inn.He stopped at his friend's house before continuing with his drive.

Stopverb

(music) To regulate the sounds of (musical strings, etc.) by pressing them against the fingerboard with the finger, or otherwise shortening the vibrating part.

Stopverb

(obsolete) To punctuate.

Stopverb

(nautical) To make fast; to stopper.

Stopnoun

A (usually marked) place where buses, trams or trains halt to let passengers get on and off, usually smaller than a station.

Related terms: halt, station.They agreed to meet at the bus stop.

Stopnoun

An action of stopping; interruption of travel.

That stop was not planned.

Stopnoun

That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; an obstacle; an impediment.

Stopnoun

A device intended to block the path of a moving object

door stop

Stopnoun

(engineering) A device, or piece, as a pin, block, pawl, etc., for arresting or limiting motion, or for determining the position to which another part shall be brought.

Stopnoun

(architecture) A member, plain or moulded, formed of a separate piece and fixed to a jamb, against which a door or window shuts.

Stopnoun

(linguistics) A consonant sound in which the passage of air through the mouth is temporarily blocked by the lips, tongue, or glottis.

Stopnoun

A symbol used for purposes of punctuation and representing a pause or separating clauses, particularly a full stop, comma, colon or semicolon.

Stopnoun

(music) A knob or pin used to regulate the flow of air in an organ.

The organ is loudest when all the stops are pulled.

Stopnoun

(tennis) A very short shot which touches the ground close behind the net and is intended to bounce as little as possible.

Stopnoun

(zoology) The depression in a dog’s face between the skull and the nasal bones.

The stop in a bulldog's face is very marked.

Stopnoun

(photography) An f-stop.

Stopnoun

The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut off the marginal portions of a beam of light passing through lenses.

Stopnoun

A small well-bucket; a milk-pail.

Stopadverb

Prone to halting or hesitation.

He’s stop still.

Stopadjective

(physics) Being or relating to the squark that is the superpartner of a top quark.

Stopnoun

the event of something ending;

it came to a stop at the bottom of the hill

Stopnoun

the act of stopping something;

the third baseman made some remarkable stopshis stoppage of the flow resulted in a flood

Stopnoun

a brief stay in the course of a journey;

they made a stopover to visit their friends

Stopnoun

the state of inactivity following an interruption;

the negotiations were in arrestheld them in checkduring the halt he got some lunchthe momentary stay enabled him to escape the blowhe spent the entire stop in his seat

Stopnoun

a spot where something halts or pauses;

his next stop is Atlanta

Stopnoun

a consonant produced by stopping the flow of air at some point and suddenly releasing it;

his stop consonants are too aspirated

Stopnoun

a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations;

in England they call a period a stop

Stopnoun

(music) a knob on an organ that is pulled to change the sound quality from the organ pipes;

the organist pulled out all the stops

Stopnoun

a mechanical device in a camera that controls size of aperture of the lens;

the new cameras adjust the diaphragm automatically

Stopnoun

a restraint that checks the motion of something;

he used a book as a stop to hold the door open

Stopnoun

an obstruction in a pipe or tube;

we had to call a plumber to clear out the blockage in the drainpipe

Stopverb

come to a halt, stop moving;

the car stoppedShe stopped in front of a store window

Stopverb

put an end to a state or an activity;

Quit teasing your little brother

Stopverb

stop from happening or developing;

Block his electionHalt the process

Stopverb

interrupt a trip;

we stopped at Aunt Mary's housethey stopped for three days in Florence

Stopverb

cause to stop;

stop a carstop the thief

Stopverb

prevent completion;

stop the projectbreak off the negociations

Stopverb

hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of;

Arrest the downward trendCheck the growth of communism in Sout East AsiaContain the rebel movementTurn back the tide of communism

Stopverb

seize on its way;

The fighter plane was ordered to intercept an aircraft that had entered the country's airspace

Stopverb

have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical;

the bronchioles terminate in a capillary bedYour rights stop where you infringe upon the rights of otherMy property ends by the bushesThe symphony ends in a pianissimo

Stopverb

render unsuitable for passage;

block the waybarricade the streetsstop the busy road

Stopverb

stop and wait, as if awaiting further instructions or developments;

Hold on a moment!