discontinue

/ˌˈdɪskənˌtɪnju/

/dɪskənˈtɪnju/

Other forms: discontinued; discontinuing; discontinues

To discontinue something is to stop it. If you've grown bored with the magazine you get in the mail every month, you can discontinue your subscription.

You discontinue things that you want to quit doing or otherwise want to bring to an end. A company also might discontinue a product, or stop making it — you'll be sad if a candy maker discontinues your favorite jelly beans. The word discontinue combines dis-, or "not," with continue, which comes from the Latin continuare, "join together, connect, or make continuous."

Definitions of discontinue

1. verb

   put an end to a state or an activity
   synonyms: cease, give up, lay off, quit, stop

   antonyms:

   continue

   keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last

   continue, go forward, proceed

   move ahead; travel onward in time or space

   continue, go along, go on, keep, proceed

   continue a certain state, condition, or activity

   types:

   drop, knock off

   stop pursuing or acting

   leave off

   stop using

   sign off

   cease broadcasting; get off the air; as of radio stations

   retire, withdraw

   withdraw from active participation

   pull the plug

   prevent from happening or continuing

   close off, shut off

   stem the flow of

   cheese

   used in the imperative (get away, or stop it)

   call it a day, call it quits

   stop doing what one is doing

   break

   give up

   nol.pros., nolle pros, nolle prosequi

   drop prosecution of by entering a nolle prosequi in the court records

   drop out

   withdraw from established society, especially because of disillusion with conventional values
2. verb

   come to or be at an end
   “the support from our sponsoring agency will discontinue after March 31”

   antonyms:

   continue

   continue a certain state, condition, or activity

   bear on, carry on, continue, preserve, uphold

   keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last

   continue

   continue after an interruption

   types:

   fizzle, fizzle out, peter out, taper off

   end weakly

   leave off

   come to an end, stop or cease

   expire, run out

   lose validity

   type of:

   cease, end, finish, stop, terminate

   have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical
3. verb

   prevent completion
   synonyms: break, break off, stop

   types:

   fracture

   become fractured

   bog, bog down

   get stuck while doing something

   break up, cut off, disrupt, interrupt

   make a break in

   cut, cut off

   cease, stop

   punctuate

   interrupt periodically

   break

   interrupt the flow of current in

   put aside, put away

   turn away from and put aside, perhaps temporarily

   break, intermit, pause

   cease an action temporarily

   barge in, break in, butt in, chime in, chisel in, cut in, put in

   break into a conversation

   burst in on, burst upon

   spring suddenly

   heckle

   challenge aggressively

   come in, inject, interject, interpose, put in, throw in

   to insert between other elements

   block, jam

   interfere with or prevent the reception of signals

   stop, stop over

   interrupt a trip

   take off, take time off

   take time off from work; stop working temporarily

   interject

   speak abruptly, especially as an interruption

   type of:

   end, terminate

   bring to an end or halt