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Cede

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(pronounced seed)  verb

Definition

1. to yield or give up (power, one’s rights, etc.); formally surrender (such as possessions or territory) by treaty.  2. to grant, transfer, or assign.

Main Example

• With reference to the charge that there has been a cozy relationship between federal agencies and the oil drilling industry, The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Casselman offered the following insight during an appearance on PBS: In recent decades, as the offshore drilling industry kept “pushing the limits of technology,” accessing reservoirs once thought to be untappable, regulators such as the Minerals Management Service and the Coast Guard were left far behind and “ceded a lot of their authority” to the industry itself. Rather than specifying precise regulations, these regulatory bodies established standards but then left it to the oil industry to “find a way to meet them.” One natural consequence of this state of affairs: the industry compromised on safety.

Workplace Examples

• The strategy being pursued by our CEO is basically Jack Welch’s mantra: In each business segment, either shoot for the No. 1 or No. 2 spot in the industry, or else cede that business to competition.
• Though our soccer team is four players short, I think we ought to go ahead and play the final game instead of ceding it. Otherwise it’ll set a bad precedent for our kids.

Other Examples

• during a speech at his Toastmasters club, this author saying: “Here is an idea I got from a David Frum commentary on NPR: The next time you visit a medical doctor, if he or she addresses you by your first name, you should do the same. Why? Because if you don’t, you would be ceding power to this other person even though it’s you who is the ‘customer.’”
• during a heated discussion, an opponent finally ceding the point, thanks to your presenting some indisputable facts; with their company now burdened by a crushing debt, the owners ceding some of their equity to the creditors
• the eternal debate about whether or not the U.S. ceded control of Eastern Europe to Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference in February, 1945
• this author joining many others in saying that our government should take aggressive steps to ensure that more American teenagers start showing a preference for advanced math and science, and that our nation should not simply cede leadership in technical education to Asia
• The outlook for the next presidential election: Judging from the grassroots work already underway by the two major political parties, it appears the Democrats do not plan to cede any of the so-called “red states,” nor does the Republican Party intend to surrender any of the “blue states” without a fight.

© 2010 V.J. Singal
No part of this may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author.

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