terminate

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

ter·mi·nate

(tûr′mə-nāt′)

v. ter·mi·nat·ed, ter·mi·nat·ing, ter·mi·nates

v.tr.

1. To bring to an end or halt: "His action terminated the most hopeful period of reform in Prussian history" (Gordon A. Craig).

2. To occur at or form the end of; conclude or finish: a display of fireworks that terminated the festivities. See Synonyms at complete.

3. To discontinue the employment of; dismiss: a company that terminated 300 workers.

4. To murder or assassinate (someone).

v.intr.

1. To come to an end; reach a stopping point: The oil pipeline terminates at a shipping port. The negotiations terminated with a celebration.

2. To form an end or produce a result. Often used with in: "The Peloponnesian war ... terminated in the ruin of the Athenian commonwealth" (Alexander Hamilton).

[Latin termināre, termināt-, from terminus, end.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

terminate

(ˈtɜːmɪˌneɪt)

1. (when: intr, often foll by in or with) to form, be, or put an end (to); conclude: to terminate a pregnancy; their relationship terminated amicably.

2. (Electronics) (tr) to connect (suitable circuitry) to the end of an electrical transmission line to absorb the energy and avoid reflections

3. (Mathematics) (intr) maths (of a decimal expansion) to have only a finite number of digits

4. (tr) slang to kill (someone)

[C16: from Latin terminātus limited, from termināre to set boundaries, from terminus end]

ˈterminative adj

ˈterminatory adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ter•mi•nate

(ˈtɜr məˌneɪt)

v. -nat•ed, -nat•ing. v.t.

1. to bring to an end; put an end to.

2. to occur at or form the conclusion of.

3. to bound or limit spatially; form or be situated at the extremity of.

4. to dismiss from a job; fire.

v.i.

5. to end, conclude, or cease.

6. (of a public conveyance) to end a scheduled run or flight at a certain place.

7. to come to an end (often fol. by at, in, or with).

8. to issue or result (usu. fol. by in).

[1580–90; v. use of late Middle English terminate (adj.) limited < Latin terminātus, past participle of termināre. See term, -ate¹]

ter′mi•na`tive, adj.

ter′mi•na`tive•ly, adv.

terminate

Past participle: terminated
Gerund: terminating

Imperative
terminate
terminate

Present
I terminate
you terminate
he/she/it terminates
we terminate
you terminate
they terminate

Preterite
I terminated
you terminated
he/she/it terminated
we terminated
you terminated
they terminated

Present Continuous
I am terminating
you are terminating
he/she/it is terminating
we are terminating
you are terminating
they are terminating

Present Perfect
I have terminated
you have terminated
he/she/it has terminated
we have terminated
you have terminated
they have terminated

Past Continuous
I was terminating
you were terminating
he/she/it was terminating
we were terminating
you were terminating
they were terminating

Past Perfect
I had terminated
you had terminated
he/she/it had terminated
we had terminated
you had terminated
they had terminated

Future
I will terminate
you will terminate
he/she/it will terminate
we will terminate
you will terminate
they will terminate

Future Perfect
I will have terminated
you will have terminated
he/she/it will have terminated
we will have terminated
you will have terminated
they will have terminated

Future Continuous
I will be terminating
you will be terminating
he/she/it will be terminating
we will be terminating
you will be terminating
they will be terminating

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been terminating
you have been terminating
he/she/it has been terminating
we have been terminating
you have been terminating
they have been terminating

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been terminating
you will have been terminating
he/she/it will have been terminating
we will have been terminating
you will have been terminating
they will have been terminating

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been terminating
you had been terminating
he/she/it had been terminating
we had been terminating
you had been terminating
they had been terminating

Conditional
I would terminate
you would terminate
he/she/it would terminate
we would terminate
you would terminate
they would terminate

Past Conditional
I would have terminated
you would have terminated
he/she/it would have terminated
we would have terminated
you would have terminated
they would have terminated

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Verb	1.	terminate - bring to an end or halt; "She ended their friendship when she found out that he had once been convicted of a crime"; "The attack on Poland terminated the relatively peaceful period after WW I" end alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue" close out - terminate; "We closed out our account" finish - cause to finish a relationship with somebody; "That finished me with Mary" abort - terminate before completion; "abort the mission"; "abort the process running on my computer" culminate - bring to a head or to the highest point; "Seurat culminated pointillism" lift, raise - put an end to; "lift a ban"; "raise a siege" ax, axe - terminate; "The NSF axed the research program and stopped funding it" stamp out, kill - end or extinguish by forceful means; "Stamp out poverty!" dissolve, break up - come to an end; "Their marriage dissolved"; "The tobacco monopoly broke up" dissolve, break up - bring the association of to an end or cause to break up; "The decree officially dissolved the marriage"; "the judge dissolved the tobacco company" break off, discontinue, stop, break - prevent completion; "stop the project"; "break off the negotiations" break, interrupt - terminate; "She interrupted her pregnancy"; "break a lucky streak"; "break the cycle of poverty" crush out, press out, stub out, extinguish - extinguish by crushing; "stub out your cigar" finalise, finalize, nail down, settle - make final; put the last touches on; put into final form; "let's finalize the proposal" complete, finish - come or bring to a finish or an end; "He finished the dishes"; "She completed the requirements for her Master's Degree"; "The fastest runner finished the race in just over 2 hours; others finished in over 4 hours" closure, cloture - terminate debate by calling for a vote; "debate was closured"; "cloture the discussion" resolve, settle, adjudicate, decide - bring to an end; settle conclusively; "The case was decided"; "The judge decided the case in favor of the plaintiff"; "The father adjudicated when the sons were quarreling over their inheritance" conclude - bring to a close; "The committee concluded the meeting" close - complete a business deal, negotiation, or an agreement; "We closed on the house on Friday"; "They closed the deal on the building" phase out - terminate gradually close - finish or terminate (meetings, speeches, etc.); "The meeting was closed with a charge by the chairman of the board"
	2.	terminate - have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical; "the bronchioles terminate in a capillary bed"; "Your rights stop where you infringe upon the rights of other"; "My property ends by the bushes"; "The symphony ends in a pianissimo" end, cease, finish, stop pass away - go out of existence; "She hoped that the problem would eventually pass away" lapse - end, at least for a long time; "The correspondence lapsed" cut out - cease operating; "The pump suddenly cut out" go out - become extinguished; "The lights suddenly went out and we were in the dark" adjourn, recess, break up - close at the end of a session; "The court adjourned" disappear, vanish - cease to exist; "An entire civilization vanished" culminate - end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage; "The meeting culminated in a tearful embrace" run out - become used up; be exhausted; "Our supplies finally ran out" run low, run short, go - to be spent or finished; "The money had gone after a few days"; "Gas is running low at the gas stations in the Midwest" disappear, vanish, go away - become invisible or unnoticeable; "The effect vanished when day broke" conclude, close - come to a close; "The concert closed with a nocturne by Chopin" come out, turn out - result or end; "How will the game turn out?" discontinue - come to or be at an end; "the support from our sponsoring agency will discontinue after March 31" break - come to an end; "The heat wave finally broke yesterday"
	3.	terminate - be the end of; be the last or concluding part of; "This sad scene ended the movie" end close - cause a window or an application to disappear on a computer desktop be - have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer"
	4.	terminate - terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position; "The boss fired his secretary today"; "The company terminated 25% of its workers" give notice, give the axe, give the sack, sack, send away, can, force out, displace, fire, dismiss retire - make (someone) retire; "The director was retired after the scandal" pension off - let go from employment with an attractive pension; "The director was pensioned off when he got senile" clean out - force out; "The new boss cleaned out the lazy workers" furlough, lay off - dismiss, usually for economic reasons; "She was laid off together with hundreds of other workers when the company downsized" squeeze out - force out; "Some employees were squeezed out by the recent budget cuts" remove - remove from a position or an office send away, send packing, dismiss, drop - stop associating with; "They dropped her after she had a child out of wedlock"

terminate

verb

1. end, stop, conclude, finish, complete, axe (informal), cut off, wind up, put an end to, discontinue, pull the plug on (informal), belay (Nautical), bring or come to an end Her next remark abruptly terminated the conversation.
end start, open, begin, introduce, initiate, commence, instigate, inaugurate

2. cease, end, close, finish, run out, expire, lapse His contract terminates at the end of the season.

3. abort, end She finally decided to terminate the pregnancy.

4. end its journey, stop, finish up This train will terminate at Taunton.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

terminate

verb

1. To bring or come to a natural or proper end:

close, complete, conclude, consummate, end, finish, wind up, wrap up.

2. To relinquish one's engagement in or occupation with:

demit, leave, quit, resign.

3. To stop suddenly, as a conversation, activity, or relationship:

break off, cease, discontinue, interrupt, suspend.

4. To end the employment or service of:

cashier, discharge, dismiss, drop, release.

Informal: ax, fire, pink-slip.

Slang: boot, bounce, can, sack.

Idioms: give someone his or her walking papers, give someone the ax, give someone the gate, give someone the pink slip, let go, show someone the door.

Translations

يُنْهي

ukončit

afslutte

abschließen beenden beendigen

τερματίζω

concluir terminar terminarse

terminer cesser finir mettre fin à

סיים

enda, binda endi á

rescindere terminare

beigtizbeigtiesnobeigt

завершать кончать

bit meksona er mek

终止结束

terminate

[ˈtɜːmɪneɪt]

A. VT [+ meeting] → concluir; [+ conversation, relationship] → poner fin a; [+ contract] → finalizar; [+ pregnancy] → interrumpir

B. VI [contract] → finalizarse, concluir; [train, bus] → terminar
this train terminates here → este tren termina aquí su recorrido, este tren muere aquí

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

terminate

[ˈtɜː^rmɪneɪt]

vt [+ contract, agreement, conversation] → mettre fin à; [+ pregnancy] → interrompre

[contract, agreement] → prendre fin; [meeting] → se terminer

[path] → se terminer, aboutir

[train, bus] to terminate at → aller jusqu'à

terminate

vt → beenden, beschließen; contract, lease etc → lösen; pregnancy → unterbrechen; employment → kündigen; relationship, conversation, friendship, life → beenden

vi → enden; (contract, lease) → ablaufen; most plural nouns terminate in “s” → die meisten Substantive enden im Plural auf „s“

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

terminate

[ˈtɜːmɪˌneɪt]

1. vt → terminare, mettere fine a; (contract) → rescindere

2. vi (contract) → terminare, concludersi; (train, bus) → finire
to terminate in → finire in or con

terminate

(ˈtəːmineit) verb

to bring or come to an end or limit. She terminated the conversation.

termiˈnation noun

terminate

v. terminar, acabar.

References in classic literature ?

About eighteen months or two years after the events which terminate this story, when search was made in that cavern for the body of Olivier le Daim, who had been hanged two days previously, and to whom Charles VIII.

View in context

But the first, who was a dapple gray, observing me to steal off, neighed after me in so expressive a tone, that I fancied myself to understand what he meant; whereupon I turned back, and came near to him to expect his farther commands: but concealing my fear as much as I could, for I began to be in some pain how this adventure might terminate; and the reader will easily believe I did not much like my present situation.

View in context

It ought to be considered as a great point gained in favor of humanity, that a period of twenty years may terminate forever, within these States, a traffic which has so long and so loudly upbraided the barbarism of modern policy; that within that period, it will receive a considerable discouragement from the federal government, and may be totally abolished, by a concurrence of the few States which continue the unnatural traffic, in the prohibitory example which has been given by so great a majority of the Union.

We may be assured by past experience, that such a practice would be introduced by future contrivances; and both by that and a common knowledge of human affairs, that it would nourish unceasing animosities, and not improbably terminate in serious interruptions of the public tranquillity.

View in context

Thus also there are no limits to the art of medicine, with respect to the health which it attempts to procure; the same also is true of all other arts; no line can be drawn to terminate their bounds, the several professors of them being desirous to extend them as far as possible.

View in context

It seemed, however, to Edmond, who was hidden from his comrades by the inequalities of the ground, that at sixty paces from the harbor the marks ceased; nor did they terminate at any grotto.

View in context

John's Road; struck down the small street which terminates at Sadler's Wells Theatre; through Exmouth Street and Coppice Row; down the little court by the side of the workhouse; across the classic ground which once bore the name of Hockley-in-the-Hole; thence into Little Saffron Hill; and so into Saffron Hill the Great: along which the Dodger scudded at a rapid pace, directing Oliver to follow close at his heels.

View in context

This valley bifurcates to the parallel of the Antilles, and terminates at the mouth by the enormous depression of 9,000 yards.

View in context

GFH received all necessary approvals to terminate the said agreement, which was effective since April 26, 2018.

GFH to terminate Al Ramz's liquidity provision agreement

He said there was a difference between a contract being terminated and an intention to terminate adding that an intention was a last warning to the contractor to stress that failure to meet set goals stringent measures would be taken.

Masunga-Tshesebe road contract not terminated

a sub-contracting company of the APM Terminate at the National Port Authority (NPA), assembled at the home of President George M.

Labour wants APM Terminate reinstate dismissed contractors

The fact there is a term in the contract for the payment of interest or additional interest in the event of default or giving the right to the vendor to file an action to receive the purchase price or any balance thereof does not prevent the vendor from exercising his right to terminate the agreement.