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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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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
After recognizing her potential early on, Jong Jin quit his job to support Kim’s dream of making it to the Olympics, often driving her six hours from their home to Mammoth Mountain Ski Area for practice. Kelsey Lentz, PEOPLE, 21 Sep. 2025 Sedum Stonecrops or sedums keep on blooming from late summer until frost, attracting bees and providing color when many other garden plants have quit or gone to seed. Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Sep. 2025 Mira wins the game, but Arisu's refusal to quit saves his life. Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Sep. 2025 People along the river are gravely worried about the fate of their lifeline, and what would happen if the river quits flowing through its two major dams and quits flowing through faucets. Debra Utacia Krol, AZCentral.com, 19 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for quit
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quit
Verb
  • Bailey argued that the district’s dispute with local police departments over its requirement that officers participate in diversity training — an impasse that resulted in some departments leaving schools without resource officers — had left students vulnerable.
    Jeremy Kohler, ProPublica, 24 Sep. 2025
  • The best clarifying shampoo can completely transform a lackluster shower routine, deep cleansing hair, exfoliating the scalp, and banishing excess oils and product buildup that leave strands flat, dull, or frizz-prone.
    Jenny Berg, Vogue, 24 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Travis Decker, the man believed to have suffocated and abandoned his three young daughters at a campsite in the Washington state wilderness, is dead, Chelan County authorities said Thursday.
    Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 25 Sep. 2025
  • The Gulf states are hedging against Israeli overreach—not abandoning America.
    Firas Maksad, Time, 25 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The defense for Texas has held up its end of the bargain, stopping the run well, allowing one of the lowest rushing yard totals per game in the country.
    Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Sep. 2025
  • Central finally stopped the bleeding late in the half on a TD pass from Smith to Jeremiah Mateo Mora.
    Matt Roy, Boston Herald, 20 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • If someone succumbs to the heat, promptly relocate them to a cool, shaded location.
    Bay Area Weather Report, Mercury News, 23 Sep. 2025
  • During that time, a couple of computers from their ragtag collection succumbed to overheating and even flames.
    Leila Sloman, Quanta Magazine, 22 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The university also asks the court to order online marketplaces, payment processors and other companies that do business with the defendants from disabling and ceasing to provide services.
    Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 20 Sep. 2025
  • After about two more decades of ice retreat, two tributaries to the north and south of the Alsek Glacier ceased feeding ice to the glacier, NASA reported.
    Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Past contestants have confirmed that pay increases as the season progresses.
    Amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Two seasons ago, Detroit opted to throw him to the wolves, and his reputation started to pay the price.
    The Athletic NHL, New York Times, 24 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Having left Netflix in August after nearly 14 years at the streamer, Friedlander serves as the successor to Vernon Sanders, who departed as the TV boss earlier in September.
    Selome Hailu, Variety, 25 Sep. 2025
  • Air traffic controllers who handle flights arriving and departing the airport were plagued early this year by multiple communications and radar outages, leading to thousands of cancellations.
    Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 25 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • In vacuum and one-sixth gravity, lubricants boil off, moving parts behave differently, and remote or autonomous operation is necessary because of the time delay between Earth and Moon, which makes real-time teleoperation impractical.
    Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Later, he was joined on the show by Robert De Niro, who played the chairman of the FCC and behaved like a mob boss.
    Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 24 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Quit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quit. Accessed 26 Sep. 2025.

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