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

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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

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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

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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 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 This was groundbreaking stuff—a vision that ceding all of one’s personal data to Google would really feel worth it. — Claire Stapleton, New Yorker, 18 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
  • But that would have meant Parton relinquishing half the publishing rights and therefore half the royalties.
    — Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026
  • America is the ultimate answer to the pogrom, and to the emancipation Europe offered on the condition of relinquishing Jewish ethnic and cultural distinctiveness.
    — Rory Lancman, New York Daily News, 5 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
  • 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
  • They’d be upset about Article One of the Constitution, the legislative branch abdicating its powers; that is, the people’s power to wage war and to levy tariffs.
    — KEN BURNS, Rolling Stone, 19 May 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
  • Russia is slowly edging towards its territorial goal of taking the Donbas – albeit through rendering the remaining ground held by Ukraine uninhabitable through horrific drone strikes on all signs of civilian and military life.
    — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 19 Aug. 2026
  • The hospital’s only refrigerator capable of storing blood donations was also damaged by a power surge following the quake, rendering transfusions impossible.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 19 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)
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Cite this Entry

“Ceding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ceding. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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