quit 1 of 2

1
as in to leave
to give up (a job or office) he decided to quit his job at the fast-food restaurant

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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as in to succumb
to cease resistance (as to another's arguments, demands, or control) tried to persuade his daughter to remain at home, but eventually he just quit and let her go out on her own

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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as in to pay
to give what is owed for eager to quit all debts before starting married life

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quit

2 of 2

adjective

as in free
no longer burdened with something unpleasant or painful I am finally quit of that terrible task

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How is the word quit distinct from other similar verbs?

Some common synonyms of quit are cease, desist, discontinue, and stop. While all these words mean "to suspend or cause to suspend activity," quit may stress either finality or abruptness in stopping or ceasing.

the engine faltered, sputtered, then quit altogether

When is it sensible to use cease instead of quit?

The words cease and quit are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, cease applies to states, conditions, or existence and may add a suggestion of gradualness and a degree of finality.

by nightfall the fighting had ceased

When is desist a more appropriate choice than quit?

While the synonyms desist and quit are close in meaning, desist implies forbearance or restraint as a motive for stopping or ceasing.

desisted from further efforts to persuade them

When would discontinue be a good substitute for quit?

While in some cases nearly identical to quit, discontinue applies to the stopping of an accustomed activity or practice.

we have discontinued the manufacture of that item

When could stop be used to replace quit?

In some situations, the words stop and quit are roughly equivalent. However, stop applies to action or progress or to what is operating or progressing and may imply suddenness or definiteness.

stopped at the red light

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 quit
Verb
Two of his staff members quit amid the furor. Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Sep. 2025 Carini quit her Olympic bout against Khelif after just 46 seconds, as images of the Algerian's punches against Carini shook viewers across the world. Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 13 Sep. 2025 As Jobs started to take over more and more portions of the project, the two men came into more frequent conflict, and Raskin eventually quit Apple for good in March 1982. Cameron Kaiser, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025 In quintessential Midwest fashion, Mitch didn’t even quit his day job at the pizzeria until two weeks into the sessions. Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 12 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for quit
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quit
Verb
  • He was charged with felony counts of leaving the scene of crash involving death, driving without a license causing death and resisting arrest, the sheriff’s office said.
    Mark Price, Miami Herald, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Investigators said that parties involved in the argument were leaving the indoor amusement park when Reed assaulted an employee, unprovoked, while making his way outside.
    Shambhavi Rimal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • These factors should never be a cause to abandon principles, but this is exactly what is occurring.
    Kimberly Ross, The Washington Examiner, 12 Sep. 2025
  • This would come as Carr also plans on abandoning an effort to raise the agency's benchmark for high-speed internet from 100Mbps to 1Gbps.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 11 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Nothing better than putting down the top and driving beautiful roads just after the rain stops and the air is powerfully charged by the nearby ocean, scrubbed clean.
    Mark Ewing, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025
  • In fact, water levels at Lake Powell, one of the main water storage reservoirs for the Colorado River Basin, could fall low enough to stop hydropower generation at the reservoir by December 2026, according to the NOAA report.
    Doyle Rice, USA Today, 14 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Here are some steps to prevent your team from succumbing to the sense of powerlessness associated with the Great Lock-In trend.
    Juliette Han, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
  • And when Jîna succumbed to her injuries on September 16, the Shargh reporter Niloofar Hamedi defied orders to keep quiet and told the world about her death in a tweet.
    Fatemeh Jamalpour, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Without any of the three, money once again ceases to circulate.
    John Tamny, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025
  • After that, production would temporarily cease with operations idling until October 2025 in order to complete retooling work to prepare the facility for production of the 2026 model year.
    Jackie Charniga, Freep.com, 14 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Social media companies and influencers paid to promote pharmaceutical offerings without proper disclosures will also be targeted by the federal government, according to CNBC, which cited unnamed senior officials.
    Antonio Pequeño IV, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025
  • The backslide is worse for Black women, who in 2024 were paid 65 cents for every dollar paid to White men.
    Madeline Mitchell, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Then, when Williams departed for the NFL Draft, Nelson would compete to be the starter.
    Sam Khan Jr, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Ten of the league’s 12 schools departed last August, but the conference plans on expanding to nine teams starting next school year.
    Tim Casey, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The bill conflates ethics with tax relief and reinforces the idea that lawmakers need a sweet treat to behave ethically.
    Andrew Leahey, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Virtually nothing was known about how chimpanzees behaved in the wild at that time.
    Keith Matheny, Freep.com, 9 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Quit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quit. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.

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