All 3 Uses of
cease
in
Unbroken, by Hillenbrand
- The rise and fall of the raft had ceased, and it sat virtually motionless.†
p. 166.0 *ceased = stopped or discontinued
- He knew he might get killed for it, but under this unceasing degradation, something was happening to him.†
p. 182.7unceasing = not stopping or discontinuingstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unceasing means not and reverses the meaning of ceasing. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- He prayed ceaselessly for rescue.†
p. 291.1ceaselessly = in a manner that does not stopstandard suffix: The suffix "-less" in ceaselessly means without. This is the same pattern you see in words like fearless, homeless, and endless.
Definitions:
-
(1)
(cease) to stop or discontinue
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Note that the expression, cease fire means to stop doing battle such as firing funs at each other. Similarly, the noun, cease-fire, is a state of having stopped doing battle.