Also 8–9 -cession. [ad. med.L. supersessio (-cessio), -ōnem, n. of action f. supersess-, supersedēre to SUPERSEDE. Cf. F. supersession.] The action of superseding or condition of being superseded.
† 1. Cessation, discontinuance. Obs. rare–0.
1656. Blount, Glossogr. [copying Cotgrave], Supersession, a surceasing, a leaving off, or giving over.
2. The setting aside, abrogation or annulment of a rule, law, authority, conditions, etc.
1790. Paley, Horæ Paul., v. (1809), 167. Our Epistle … avows in direct terms the supersession of the Jewish law, as an instrument of salvation even to the Jews themselves.
1798. Bay’s Amer. Law Rep. (1809), I. 192. The election of a new sheriff was a supercession of the former’s office.
1859. Tennent, Ceylon, VI. iii. II. 73. Their chiefs and headmen, insulted by the supercession of their authority.
1893. Times, 3 June, 9/4. The supersession of a number of amendments by the application of the closure to a whole clause.
3. The removal of a person from office and substitution of another in his place; also, the passing over or setting aside of a person in promotion.
1801. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1837), I. 306. My supercession must have been occasioned, either by my own misconduct, or by an alteration of the sentiments of the Governor General. Ibid. (1809), IV. 370. These officers are injured by the temporary supercession of themselves by their juniors.
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. India, XII. iv. II. 667. He immediately gave the appointment of commander-in-chief to Ahmed Khán Bangash,… in supersession of Najib u doula.
1894. Wolseley, Marlborough, I. 25. Captain Aylmer was made Admiral over his head. This supercession followed soon upon his eldest brother’s disgrace.
1912. Times, 19 Dec., 11/1. The disciplinary action taken by the Board of Admiralty involved the supersession of one officer and the censure of another.
4. The process of displacing, or condition of being displaced by another.
1855. G. B. Wood, Treat. Pract. Med. (ed. 4), I. 227. Supersession. By this process is meant the displacing or prevention of one affection by the establishment of another in the seat of it.
1865. Times, 25 Jan., 12/2. That vessel … since her supercession for Her Majesty’s personal use by the Victoria and Albert.
1875. M. Pattison, Casaubon, 487. It is the fate of science that the books, in which it is consigned, are in a constant state of supersession.
1892. Lydekker, Phases Anim. Life, 37. The supersession of the Pterodactyles by the Birds as the lords of the air.
1912. W. H. Stevenson, in Eng. Hist. Rev., Jan., 22, note. The supersession of aratrum by carruca among the Gauls is clearly due to the introduction of wheeled ploughs.
