smettere

Forms

smettere (first-person singular present smétto, first-person singular past historic smìsi, past participle smésso, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian s- + mettere, with the prefix in its subtractive sense: to “un-put”, to put aside.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Tommaseo glossed it with dismettere and compared Latin dīmittō and dēmittō.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date the verb to the 16th century, and Zingarelli gives 1582.^[3][4][5][7] DELI's dated evidence is later: the past participle smesso in Lorenzo Magalotti (before 1712), the verb in G. S. Saccenti (before 1749) according to D'Alberti's dictionary of 1805, with the sense “to break off, temporarily or for good, what one is doing”.^[2] Sabatini–Coletti dates it to 1805.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to stop wearing” a garment is recorded in Manzoni's Promessi sposi (1840–1842), who wrote that a character took care not to set aside a suit before it was quite worn out; the earlier edition of the novel had dismettere there.^[2] The intransitive use, “to stop, not go on”, is first recorded in Tommaseo's dictionary in 1873.^[2] Tommaseo already gave phrases such as smettere la bottega and smettere il mestiere (to give up a shop, a trade), and ironic commands such as “Mi faccia la finezza di smettere” (do me the kindness of stopping).^[6]

In today's speech the verb is the usual word for stopping an activity, often with di and an infinitive, and in the form smetterla it gives impatient commands such as smettila!.^[5][8][9] In Tuscany smettere casa meant to give up one's home and furniture and move in with others.^[7][10]

Timeline

• 16th century – Smettere is first recorded.^[3][4][5]
• 1582 – Zingarelli's date for the verb.^[7]
• Before 1712 – The past participle smesso appears in Lorenzo Magalotti.^[2]
• 1805 – D'Alberti's dictionary records the verb.^[2][8]
• 1840–1842 – Manzoni uses it of clothes no longer worn.^[2]
• 1873 – Tommaseo's dictionary records the intransitive use.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To stop or break off, for a time or for good, something one is doing: Ha smesso gli studi a vent'anni.^[4][5][8][1]
2. With di and an infinitive: to stop doing something, to quit: Mio padre ha smesso di fumare l'anno scorso. With weather verbs it is impersonal: finalmente ha smesso di nevicare.^[4][5][8]
3. smetterla (usually as a command): to cut it out, stop doing something annoying: Smettila di lamentarti!^[5][8][9]
4. To stop wearing a garment that is old or out of fashion.^[4][5][8]
5. (figurative, literary) To give up an attitude or way of behaving.^[4][5][9]
6. (intransitive) To stop, come to an end: Il vento non smette da tre giorni.^[4][7][9]

Word family

• smesso
• smetterla

Related words

• mettere
• dismettere
• Latin dīmittō

Usage notes

Smettere is conjugated like mettere (past participle smesso).^[5][10] It takes avere; with weather verbs essere is also found, though less often: ha smesso or è smesso di grandinare.^[7][9][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 4, 931
7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli