ending
Americannoun
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endings
plural
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a bringing or coming to an end; termination; close.
Putting away the Christmas ornaments marked the ending of the season.
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the final or concluding part; conclusion.
a story with a happy ending.
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death; destruction.
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Grammar. a morpheme, especially an inflection, at the end of a word, as -s in cuts.
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(not in technical use) any final word part, as the -ow of widow.
noun
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the act of bringing to or reaching an end
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the last part of something, as a book, film, etc
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the final part of a word, esp a suffix
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chess another word for endgame
Usage
What is an ending? An ending is a conclusion, as in I like stories with a happy ending. An ending is also a time when something is finishing or nearing completion, as in I’m ending my school career with all As. An ending is the opposite of a beginning and is used to mean the conclusion of something. Movies have endings. So do civilizations, like the Roman Empire. We even sometimes refer to a person’s death as an ending. Endings and the reasons or events surrounding them are often intensely studied or debated. Example: I liked the book until the terrible ending where the villain won in the last chapter.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of ending
First recorded before 1000; Middle English endyng, Old English endung; equivalent to end 1 + -ing 1
Vocabulary lists containing ending
Common Core Grade 6, List 3
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Common Core Grade 5, List 3
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Reading: Literature - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
TBR, which recorded its strongest quarter to date in the period ending in June, brings a global presence and 24-hour service center.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
The Dodgers are one loss from an abrupt ending to their season, and from a National League Championship Series sweep by the Milwaukee Brewers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
According to the Labor Department, consumer prices rose by 3.7 percent over the year ending in September—a sharper rate of increase than the month before.
From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2026
On Friday, Kabila accused President Félix Tshisekedi's government of disregarding proposals he had put forward last year, including some aimed at ending the conflict in eastern DR Congo.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
“I owe it to you to help you. You didn’t get an ending and I didn’t even get a beginning.”
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Coroners are in the business of endings, putting a neat period on decades of damage with phrases like “cardiac arrest.”
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
The findings suggest that imagery-based techniques can change how people respond to current challenges by allowing them to "write" new, safe endings to painful experiences from the past.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026
At the end of the documentary, however, Griezmann stood in front of the Metropolitano and revealed he was staying at Atletico Madrid in one of two different endings reportedly filmed to keep the decision secret.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
On a number of your films, most famously with “Fatal Attraction” and “Unfaithful,” it was very public that you would test and change the endings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Janus, too, was originally one of the Numina, “the god of good beginnings,” which are sure to result in good endings.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
