cessò

Cessò is the third-person singular passato remoto form of the Italian verb cessare, meaning “he ceased” or “it stopped.” It is used to express a completed action in a narrative, especially in literary, historical, or formal contexts.

It derives from the Latin cessare and belongs to the regular -are conjugation. In the passato remoto, the ending -ò marks the third-person singular form, yielding cessò with a grave accent on the o to indicate the stressed syllable.

In usage, cessò denotes that something has come to an end, for example: “La pioggia cessò” or “La trattativa cessò.” With di + infinito, it can express that someone stopped performing an action: “cessò di parlare.” In modern Italian, the passato remoto is largely confined to literature and historical writing; in ordinary speech, the passato prossimo is usually preferred: “è cessata” or “ha cessato di parlare.”