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desist

verb [I]
 
 
/dɪˈsɪst/ formal

Definition

to stop doing something, especially something that someone else does not want you to do: The soldiers have been ordered to desist from firing their guns. The high winds are expected to desist tomorrow.Abstaining and refrainingCausing something to endComing to an end
(Definition of desist verb from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

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