ceding

verb

present participle of cede
1
as in relinquishing
to give (something) over to the control or possession of another usually under duress she reluctantly ceded her position as leader

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in transferring
to give over the legal possession or ownership of Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States as part of the settlement of the Spanish-American War

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in abdicating
to give up (as a position of authority) formally the President officially cedes his position on the January 20th immediately following the presidential election

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of ceding Like NBCUniversal and Disney, WarnerMedia had finally decided to enter the costly direct-to-consumer streaming market after a decade of ceding it to Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 1 Sep. 2026 After ceding its lead, first to Red Bull and then to McLaren, his team is atop the standings again and favored to win the 2026 season. — Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 21 Aug. 2026 But an industry that can only reliably fill seats for a dozen event-scale releases a year, while quietly ceding everything else to streaming, is not a healthy industry putting on a growth spurt. — Olivia Shalhoup, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026 The Russia sanctions bill merely marks the latest instance of the legislative branch ceding trade authority to the executive branch. — Jason Ma, Fortune, 8 Aug. 2026 Republicans are defending a razor-thin House majority, and can afford to lose just two seats without ceding control of the lower chamber to Democrats. — Fin Daniel Gómez, CBS News, 5 Aug. 2026 Launch will continue ceding this financial ground to Starlink, but also, increasingly, to SpaceX's artificial intelligence (AI) operations. — Mike Wall, Space.com, 4 Aug. 2026 Before a calf injury hit in Week 4, Hubbard was already ceding work to Rico Dowdle and approaching a 50/50 split. — Jonathan Rubin, Charlotte Observer, 24 July 2026 Democrats, on the other hand, have lacked the leadership and political power to deliver solutions, effectively ceding the issue to their political rivals. — Ken Salazar, Time, 20 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ceding
  1. relinquishing
  2. transferring
  3. abdicating
  4. surrendering
  5. assigning
  6. resigning
  7. rendering
  8. bequeathing
Verb
  • Venus Venus will soon be relinquishing its dominance of the early evening sky.
    — Joe Rao, Space.com, 1 Sep. 2026
  • But that would have meant Parton relinquishing half the publishing rights and therefore half the royalties.
    — Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of relinquishing
Verb
  • Once in office, Escalona quickly began to roll back parts of Carollo’s legacy, including transferring the Tower Theater back to MDC.
    — Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Directly transferring the original walking policy failed because the second robot had different body proportions, joint configurations, and motor characteristics.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of transferring
Verb
  • Despite everything, Harald never considered abdicating the throne.
    — Stefania Conrieri, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026
  • This is what the impeachment process was designed for, to remove public officials abdicating their responsibilities.
    — New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of abdicating
Verb
  • Overall, Lomon pitched 16 2/3 innings, surrendering 24 hits and eight walks while recording seven strikeouts in his career.
    — Peter Chawaga, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Leaving is sometimes necessary, but far more often the harder and healthier work is learning how to stay connected to imperfect people without surrendering ourselves, or trying to control them.
    — David H. Rosmarin, Time, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of surrendering
Verb
  • As more officers arrived, Kelly began directing the response, assigning priority to the most critically injured.
    — Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield, CBS News, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Police emphasized that assigning the case to the Homicide Detail does not indicate Lupton's death has been ruled a homicide.
    — Anthony Thompson, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of assigning
Verb
  • Inquest opens into death of 41-year-old former Cambridge sociology professor Jason Arday, found dead in south London days after resigning amid scrutiny of his record and credentials.
    — Pan Pylas, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Republican Christine Moore served nearly 8 years in the seat before resigning her term early to unsuccessfully run for Apopka Mayor.
    — Ryan Gillespie, The Orlando Sentinel, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of resigning
Verb
  • But the force of the flooding could mean mud may be caked over such exits, rendering rescue plans difficult, Horney said.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The software offered to fix it, rendering a version with the left side lifted and overlaying the before and after so the subject could watch his own jawline move.
    — Christopher Elliott, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of rendering
Verb
  • As temple members met their gruesome death, documents bequeathing some $7 million to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were spirited out of Jonestown in a suitcase stuffed with cash.
    — James Kirchick, The Atlantic, 13 Aug. 2026
  • William inherited the piece after her death in 1997, eventually bequeathing it to his wife.
    — Hannah Malach, InStyle, 17 June 2026
Definition of bequeathing

Browse Nearby Words

cede (to)
ceding
ceding (to)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Ceding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ceding. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
anagrams on a chalk board
Word Builder Quiz Vol. 2 Pick the letter that when added to a word will ma...
See All