terminate
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
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)
- (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.
- (transitive) To conclude.
- (transitive) To set or be a limit or boundary to.
- to terminate a surface by a line
- (transitive) To form an appropriate end on (a wire, cable, hose, pipe, etc), such as by applying a cable terminal or a hose ferrule.
- We'll rough them all in before we start terminating any of them.
- (transitive) To end the employment contract of an employee; to fire, lay off.
- (transitive, euphemistic) To kill someone or something.
- The enemy must be terminated by any means possible.
- (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!
- (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.
- (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
to end something, especially when left in an incomplete state — see also end
|
to set or be a limit or boundary to
to kill someone or something — see also kill
|
|
of a mode of transport, to end its journey; or, of a railway line, to reach its terminus
|
See also
Adjective
terminate (comparative more terminate, superlative most terminate)
- Terminated; limited; bounded; ended.
- 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.
- (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
mathematics: expressible in a finite number of terms; (of a decimal) not recurring or infinite
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
Italian
Etymology 1
Verb
terminate
- inflection of terminare:
Etymology 2
Participle
terminate f pl
Anagrams
Latin
Verb
termināte
References
- “terminate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Spanish
Verb
terminate
- second-person singular voseo imperative of terminar combined with te
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *terh₂-
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English euphemisms
- English intransitive verbs
- English adjectives
- en:Mathematics
- English ergative verbs
- en:Death
- en:Insurance
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian verb forms
- Italian past participle forms
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin verb forms
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms