Relating to or denoting the cessation or ending of something; in grammar, a verb form indicating that an action is ceasing.
From Latin cessativus, derived from cessare meaning 'to cease.' The term describes something that causes or indicates stopping, and in linguistic terminology refers to a specific grammatical aspect.
In language studies, cessative verbs are fascinating—they specifically mark the end of an action, so languages like Finnish can literally tell you 'I stopped sleeping' versus 'I fell asleep,' giving you totally different meanings!
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