discontinue
/dɪskənˈtɪnjuː
/verb (discontinues, discontinuing, discontinued) [with object]
1Cease from doing or providing (something), especially something that has been provided on a regular basis: the ferry service was discontinued by the proprietors he discontinued his visits...
- A spokesman, however, said on Monday that the government might have problems finding a legal basis to discontinue the project's budget even if its final decision was to have the project scrapped.
- A serviceman cannot change his station at will, nor can he discontinue performance of service duties or abandon his station without leave.
- The decision to discontinue participant recruitment after six couples was made on the basis of saturation of relevant themes, with couple six adding only one or two themes to each area of inquiry.
1.1Stop making (a particular product): their current top-of-the-range running shoe is being discontinued...
- Businesses with their software voiced fears that their products would be discontinued or that technical support might waver.
- I'm hoping you have some suggestions for notifying customers that a product has been discontinued.
- Around 450 of the 1,000 staff work in the relatively risky area of manufacturing, which was hit by the company's decision last year to discontinue one of its products.
Synonyms
stop, end, terminate, bring to an end, put an end to, put a stop to, wind up, finish, bring to a halt, call a halt to, cancel, drop, dispense with, do away with, get rid of, abolish;
suspend, interrupt, break off, phase out, withdraw;
abandon, give up, cease, refrain from
informal cut, pull the plug on, axe, scrap, give something the chop, knock something on the head, leave off, pack in
North American informal quit
rare intermit
no longer available, no longer produced, no longer manufactured;
obsolete, no longer in existence
1.2Cease taking (a newspaper or periodical) or paying (a subscription).The e-mail subscriptions have been discontinued, probably permanently....
- I discontinued my subscription because the magazine has deteriorated so much in the last several years.
- I quickly discontinued my subscription, and went back to choosing my own selections.
Derivatives
discontinuance
/ noun ...- The only grounds upon which suspension and discontinuance of support can be made are those set out in Regulation 20.
- There was much annoyance at the discontinuance of the first-time house buyers grant and the cutbacks in the Community Enterprise Schemes.
- This discontinuance of activity is in itself not completely to blame for child obesity issues, but it does contribute.
discontinuation
/ noun ...- Sudden discontinuation may lead to withdrawal symptoms and rapid worsening of the condition being treated.
- Dependence can develop, leading to withdrawal symptoms on discontinuation of these agents.
- The decision would not be ignored, as the deadline for discontinuation of operations would be met, but troops would start pulling out later.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'interrupt, disrupt'): via Old French from medieval Latin discontinuare, from Latin dis- 'not' + continuare (see continue).