Recessing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of placing or positioning something set back from a surface or edge ; a temporary break from activity or work
2. The process of making an object or part lie deeper or set inward relative to its surroundings ; an interval during which normal duties are suspended
3. Moving or positioning a part so it lies inward or behind another; a period of rest or suspension from usual tasks

Etymology: The verb "recessing" comes from a Latin verb that meant to walk backwards: "recēdō," built from "re-" ("back") and "cēdō" ("go, move"). Its literal sense was simply going back, and it carried that idea of withdrawal through Latin into a noun, "recessus," meaning a departure or a secluded corner. That noun was later shaped by French, where "recès" could mean a pause, a school break, or the ebbing of a tide, and it is from this French influence that English got its sense of a pause in activity. The architectural meaning, a part of a surface set back from the rest, grows naturally from the same idea of withdrawal. An object or wall that recedes is one that stands further back, and so making something recess is making it lie deeper or set inward. The verb forms in English follow directly from the noun, so the physical sense of setting something back and the sense of suspending activity both descend from the one Latin image of stepping away.

Synonyms: indention, indentation

Antonyms: protrusion, expansion