cede

verb \ ˈsēd \

|Updated on: 16 Jun 2018

Examples: cede in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Do you cede or seed control?

Definition of cede

ceded; ceding

transitive verb

1 : to yield or grant typically by treaty

Russia ceded Alaska to the U.S. in 1867.

2 : assign, transfer

ceded his stock holdings to his children

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ceder

noun

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Examples of cede in a Sentence

Russia ceded Alaska to the U.S. in 1867.
she reluctantly ceded her position as leader

Recent Examples of cede from the Web

After five years of ceding dominance to China, the United States is (unofficially) back on top, thanks to this insanely fast machine.

— josh axelrod, CNN, "This computer can do more calculations per second than the world's population could do in a year," 9 June 2018
As the architect Duo Dickinson has observed, this means that the profession has largely ceded the best opportunity to be relevant and useful to ordinary people.

— anthony alofsin, The Atlantic, "A Defense of the Suburbs," 6 June 2018
This has set off a new turf war over audio rights, pitting Audible, owned by Amazon, against traditional publishers, who are increasingly insisting on producing their own audiobooks, wary of ceding more territory and revenue to the online retailer.

— New York Times, "Want Michael Lewis’s Next Book? You’ll Have to Listen to It," 2 June 2018
Instead, each made the agonizingly tough decision of ceding their positions in fear of doing something wreckless and that could have damaged a fellow competitor's race.

— jim ayello, Indianapolis Star, "Insider: Fast 9 takeaways from Indy 500," 30 May 2018
But the idea of city government ceding responsibility for Central Park to a nonprofit organization struck some people as wrong.

— david hugh smith, The Christian Science Monitor, "'Saving Central Park' recounts a love affair with a legendary green space," 24 May 2018
Americans would quickly see the consequences of ceding power in the Pacific.

— seth cropsey, WSJ, "America Can’t Afford to Cede the Seas," 14 May 2018
The Federal Aviation Administration now cedes authority in this area to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations body that sets global rules for non-military aviation.

— star-telegram, "Eyes on Washington: How the Texas congressional delegation voted | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 27 Apr. 2018
Leery of ceding any power to the state, practically every major water agency in California, from Sacramento to San Diego, stepped up to complain the water board was overstepping its legal authority.

— dale kasler and ryan sabalow, sacbee, "Why your water provider is fighting California's ban on watering sidewalks | The Sacramento Bee," 15 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cede.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Do you cede or seed control?

Cede means "to yield or grant typically by treaty." Most of the verb senses of seed are concerned with planting seeds (either literal, as of plants, or figuratively, as of ideas). However, the word may also be used to mean "to schedule (tournament players or teams) so that superior ones will not meet in early rounds." If you relinquish or yield something you are ceding it, and if you are organizing the participants in a tournament you are seeding them.

Did You Know?

Cede is often a formal term used in discussing territory and rights, but is also used less formally. So, for example, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the U.S. in 1898, following the Spanish-American War, and the U.S. ceded control of the Panama Canal to Panama in 1999. Critics warn that we are ceding leadership in alternative-energy technology to China. Citizens of one European country or another are always worrying that their own country is ceding too much power to the European Union. A tennis player doesn't have any choice when she cedes her no. 1 ranking to a rival.

Origin and Etymology of cede

borrowed from French or Latin; French céder, borrowed from Latin cēdere "to go, move away, withdraw, yield," perhaps, if derived from an originally transitive meaning "drive away," akin to Sanskrit sedhati "(she/he) chases away," Avestan siiazdat "will chase away"

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1749

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year