Desinere

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of ceasing or stopping something from occurring
2. to put an end to a process or activity
3. to refrain from continuing an action or behavior

Etymology: "Desinere" is a Latin verb built from "de-" (down, away, from) and "sinere" (to leave, allow, let be). Its literal sense was something like "to leave off" or "to let go," and Romans used it of stopping an action, as in "desinere loqui," to cease speaking. The sense of ending or stopping is already present in the Latin, so the verb did not need to shift meaning on its way into later usage. The word survives in English mainly through its descendants rather than as a common everyday term. Its past participle, "desitus," and related forms fed into the vocabulary of Latin scholarship and medieval texts, while the verb itself is most often met in Latin grammar and classical reading. English speakers generally encounter the same root in "cease" (through Old French "cesser") and "desist" (through Old French "desister"), both drawn from the same family of Latin verbs meaning to stop or let go.

Synonyms: cease, stop, quit, end, discontinue

Antonyms: begin, start, continue, commence