terminate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin terminātus, past participle of terminō (“I set bounds to, bound, limit, end, close, terminate”), from terminus (“a bound, limit, end”); see term, terminus. Doublet of termine.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɝmɪneɪt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜːmɪneɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: ter‧mi‧nate

Verb

terminate (third-person singular simple present terminates, present participle terminating, simple past and past participle terminated)

1. (transitive) To end something, especially when left in an incomplete state.

   to terminate a process before its completion

   to terminate an effort, or a controversy

   • 1857, John Scandrett Harford, The Life of Michael Angelo Buonarroti:

     During this interval of calm and prosperity, he terminated two figures of slaves, destined for the tomb, in an incomparable style of art.

2. (Should we delete⁽⁺⁾ this redundant sense?) (transitive) To conclude.
3. (transitive) To set or be a limit or boundary to.

   to terminate a surface by a line

4. (transitive) To end the employment contract of an employee; to fire, lay off.
5. (transitive, euphemistic) To kill someone or something.

   The enemy must be terminated by any means possible.

6. (intransitive) To end, conclude, or cease; to come to an end.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIII, in Francesca Carrara. , volume III, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 102:

     She unlocked the casket which contained her mother's picture, and gazed even more earnestly than usual on that beautiful face; its frank, glad smile was too painful; it seemed an omen of all that could make a joyous and beloved existence; and yet how had her's terminated!

7. (intransitive) Of a mode of transport, to end its journey; or, of a railway line, to reach its terminus.

   This train terminates at the next station.

   • 1960 March, H. P. White, “The Hawkhurst branch of the Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 170:

     It is a branch that climbs for 11½ miles into the picturesque Wealden hills until, apparently exhausted by the effort, it terminates a mile short of the village of Hawkhurst.

   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67:

     After dropping off travellers at Foregate Street, my train terminates at Shrub Hill - a station which boasts one of the best selection [sic] of semaphore signals left in the country.

8. (intransitive) To issue or result.

Synonyms

• (to end incompletely): discontinue, stop, break off
• (to kill): See also Thesaurus:kill
• (to end the employment contract): axe, fire, sack; see also Thesaurus:lay off

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "to end incompletely"): continue

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

Adjective

terminate (comparative more terminate, superlative most terminate)

1. Terminated; limited; bounded; ended.
2. Having a definite and clear limit or boundary; having a determinate size, shape or magnitude.

   Mountains on the Moon cast shadows that are very dark, terminate and more distinct than those cast by mountains on the Earth.

3. (mathematics) Expressible in a finite number of terms; (of a decimal) not recurring or infinite.

   One third is a recurring decimal, but one half is a terminate decimal.

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “terminate”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Further reading

• “terminate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “terminate”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “terminate”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• Marinette, antimeter, intermate, interteam, tetramine, tretamine

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

terminate

1. inflection of terminare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

terminate f pl

1. feminine plural of terminato

Anagrams

• attenermi, meritante

Latin

Verb

termināte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of terminō

References

• “terminate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Spanish

Verb

terminate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of terminar combined with te