terminate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɜːmɪneɪt/
ipa: /ˈtɝmɪneɪt/
Forms: form: terminates
form: terminating
form: terminated
form: terminated
Etymology: From Middle English terminaten (“to bring to an end; to adjudicate; to end, stop; to border, confine, contain”) from terminat(e) (“bounded”, also used as the past participle of terminaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin terminātus, perfect passive participle of terminō (“to set bounds to, bound, limit, end, close, terminate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from terminus (“a bound, limit, end”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); see term, terminus. Doublet of termine, cognate with French terminer.
Senses: examples: text: to terminate a process before its completion
text: to terminate an effort, or a controversy
text: During this interval of calm and prosperity, he terminated two figures of slaves, destined for the tomb, in an incomparable style of art.
ref: 1857, John Scandrett Harford, The Life of Michael Angelo Buonarroti:
glosses: To end something, especially when left in an incomplete state.
glosses: To conclude.
examples: text: to terminate a surface by a line
glosses: To set or be a limit or boundary to.
examples: text: We'll rough them all in before we start terminating any of them.
glosses: To form an appropriate end on (a wire, cable, hose, pipe, etc), such as by applying a cable terminal or a hose ferrule.
glosses: To end the employment contract of an employee; to fire, lay off.
examples: text: The enemy must be terminated by any means possible.
glosses: To kill someone or something.
examples: text: 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!
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 102:
glosses: To end, conclude, or cease; to come to an end.
examples: text: This train terminates at the next station.
text: 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.
ref: 1960 March, H. P. White, “The Hawkhurst branch of the Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 170:
text: 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.
ref: 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67:
glosses: Of a mode of transport, to end its journey; or, of a railway line, to reach its terminus.
glosses: To issue or result.
Synonyms: sense: to end incompletely
word: discontinue
sense: to end incompletely
word: stop
sense: to end incompletely
word: break off
sense: to end the employment contract
word: axe
word: fire
word: sack
word: lay off
Derived terms: self-terminate
terminate with extreme prejudice
thought-terminating cliché
Related terms: terminable
termination
terminator
terminus
abort