end
noun
the last part or extremity, lengthwise, of anything that is longer than it is wide or broad.
end
1 American
[end]
/ ɛnd /
noun
-
ends
plural
-
the last part or extremity, lengthwise, of anything that is longer than it is wide or broad.
the end of a street;
the end of a rope.
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a point, line, or limitation that indicates the full extent, degree, etc., of something; limit; bounds.
kindness without end;
to walk from end to end of a city.
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a part or place at or adjacent to an extremity: the west end of town.
at the end of the table;
the west end of town.
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the furthermost imaginable place or point.
an island at the very end of the world.
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The journey was coming to an end.
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the concluding part.
The end of her speech had to be cut short because of time.
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an intention or aim.
to gain one's ends.
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the object for which a thing exists; purpose.
The happiness of the people is the end of government.
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an outcome or result.
What is to be the end of all this bickering?
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termination of existence; death.
He met a horrible end.
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a cause of death, destruction, or ruin.
Another war would be the end of civilization.
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a remnant or fragment: ends and trimmings.
mill end;
ends and trimmings.
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a share or part in something.
He does his end of the job very well.
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Textiles. a warp thread running vertically and interlaced with the filling yarn in the woven fabric.
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Football.
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either of the linemen: stationed farthest from the center.
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the position played by this lineman.
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Archery. the number of arrows to be shot by a competitor during one turn in a match.
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Cricket. a wicket, especially the one where the batsman is taking a turn.
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a unit of a game, as in curling or lawn bowling.
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Kantianism. any rational being, regarded as worthy to exist for its own sake.
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either half of a domino.
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Knots. the part of a rope, beyond a knot or the like, that is not used.
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Slang. the end, the ultimate; the utmost of good or bad.
His stupidity is the end.
verb (used with object)
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to bring to an end or conclusion.
We ended the discussion on a note of optimism.
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to put an end to; terminate.
This was the battle that ended the war.
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to form the end of.
This passage ends the novel.
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to cause the demise of; kill.
A bullet through the heart ended him.
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to constitute the most outstanding or greatest possible example or instance of (usually used in the infinitive).
You just committed the blunder to end all blunders.
verb (used without object)
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to come to an end; terminate; cease.
The road ends at Rome.
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to issue or result.
Extravagance ends in want.
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to reach or arrive at a final condition, circumstance, or goal (often followed byup ): to end as a happy person.
to end up in the army;
to end as a happy person.
adjective
idioms
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at loose ends, without an occupation or plans; unsettled; uncertain.
He spent two years wandering about the country at loose ends.
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make ends meet, to live within one's means: Also make both ends meet.
Despite her meager income, she tried to make ends meet.
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end to end, in a row with ends touching.
The pipes were placed end to end on the ground.
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go off the deep end, to act in a reckless or agitated manner; lose emotional control.
She went off the deep end when she lost her job.
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keep / hold one's end up, to perform one's part or share adequately.
The work is demanding, but he's holding his end up.
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make an end of, to conclude; stop.
Let's make an end of this foolishness and get down to work.
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end for end, in reverse position; inverted.
The cartons were turned end for end.
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in the end, finally; after all.
In the end they shook hands and made up.
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at one's wit's end, at the end of one's ideas or mental resources; perplexed: Also at one's wits' end.
I'm at my wit's end with this problem.
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put an end to, to cause to stop; terminate; finish.
The advent of sound in motion pictures put an end to many a silent star's career.
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on end,
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having the end down; upright.
to stand a box on end.
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continuously; successively.
They talked for hours on end.
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at the end of the day. see at the end of the day.
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no end, very much or many.
They were pleased no end by the warm reception.
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end on, with the end next to or facing.
He backed the truck until it was end on with the loading platform.
end
2
American
[end]
/ ɛnd /
verb (used with object)
British Dialect.
end-
3
American
end.
4
American
abbreviation
end
1
British
/ ɛnd /
noun
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the extremity of the length of something, such as a road, line, etc
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the surface at either extremity of a three-dimensional object
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the extreme extent, limit, or degree of something
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the most distant place or time that can be imagined
the ends of the earth
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the time at which something is concluded
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the last section or part
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( as modifier )
the end office
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a share or part
his end of the bargain
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(often plural) a remnant or fragment (esp in the phrase odds and ends )
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a final state, esp death; destruction
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the purpose of an action or existence
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sport either of the two defended areas of a playing field, rink, etc
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bowls curling a section of play from one side of the rink to the other
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American football a player at the extremity of the playing line; wing
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totally or completely
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informal an unpleasant death
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without purpose or occupation
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exhausted or completed
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See day
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to become completed or exhausted
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with the end pointing towards one
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with the end adjacent to the end of another object
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informal to lose one's temper; react angrily
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slang to have sexual intercourse
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finally
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to sustain one's part in a joint enterprise
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to hold one's own in an argument, contest, etc
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to spend no more than the money one has
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informal (intensifier)
I had no end of work
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upright
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without pause or interruption
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informal
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the worst, esp something that goes beyond the limits of endurance
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the best in quality
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the point beyond which survival or continuation is impossible
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to put someone into a new situation, job, etc, without preparation or introduction
verb
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to bring or come to a finish; conclude
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to die or cause to die
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(tr) to surpass; outdo
a novel to end all novels
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informal to commit suicide
-end
2
British
suffix
end
3
British
/ ɛnd /
verb
end-
4
British
combining form
end
More Idioms
Usage
What is a basic definition of end? An end is a conclusion or a last part of a long object. To end is to cease. The word end has many other senses as a verb, noun, and adjective and is used in several idioms. End is a very general word that means a conclusion or a part that is near the conclusion. For example, the end of the summer is the exact moment that it stops being summer, while the end of a movie is the last scene or even the last act. End is often used figuratively to mean death, which is the end of a person’s life.
- Real-life examples: The end of World War II occurred in 1945. The credits usually happen at the end of a movie. Sunset signals the end of daytime.
- Used in a sentence: I liked the beginning of the book, but it got boring near the end.
- Real-life examples: You can end a fight by walking away. A class often ends when the bell rings. Sometimes, though, the teacher ends the class early and lets all the students leave.
- Used in a sentence: The song was just getting good when it suddenly ended.
- Real-life examples: Most power cables have one end that plugs into an electronic device and another end that plugs into the wall. You usually walk across a hallway from one end to the other. A soccer field has goals at each end.
- Used in a sentence: Always point the sharp end of the scissors away from people when you carry them.
Synonym Usage
End, close, conclusion, finish, outcome refer to the termination of something. End implies a natural termination or completion, or an attainment of purpose: the end of a day, of a race; to some good end. Close often implies a planned rounding off of something in process: the close of a conference. Conclusion suggests a decision or arrangement: All evidence leads to this conclusion; the conclusion of peace terms. Finish emphasizes completion of something begun: a fight to the finish. Outcome suggests the issue of something that was in doubt: the outcome of a game. See aim.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of end1
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English ende; cognate with Old Frisian enda, Middle Dutch e(i)nde, Old Saxon endi, Old High German anti, German Ende, Old Norse endi(r), Gothic andeis “end,” from unattested Germanic anthjá-; akin to Sanskrit ánta- “end”
Origin of end2
First recorded in 1610–20; perhaps variant of dialect in “to harvest,” from Old English innian “to lodge, put up”; see inn
Explanation
The end of something is its final point or farthest edge. After your cat unwinds a ball of yarn, you may find one end of it in your kitchen and the other end upstairs in the bathroom. A piece of string has two ends, while stories, races, and years have just one end each. When you buy a length of fabric, the leftover bit is an end, and the final point of almost anything — a play or a marriage — is also an end. When you end something, you make it conclude. In football, an "end zone" is the far side of the field, and a "defensive end" is a player near the sideline.
Vocabulary lists containing end
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:
Arab mediators said Iranian diplomats have presented a number of proposals to end the war and acknowledged the deepening economic crisis in their country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
He took the snap out of shotgun formation and just ran left until he reached the end zone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026
Daniel Kritenbrink, a former US official now with The Asia Group consultancy, said there's "no doubt that both leaders would like to see stability in the relationship, at least through the end of the year."
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Mahmood said the government would make a decision on the immigration overhaul by the end of the year.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
I oblige her, because I won’t hear the end of it if I don’t.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
In a similar way, when supper was end-
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2025
After Saturday’s final buzzer, that’s a number that inspired the senior-led group to sprint from the court, run into the end- zone stands, and leap into a mosh pit of bouncing and cheering students.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2023
Recovery times for biodiversity after the end- Cretaceous extinction are shorter, in geological time, than for the end-Permian extinction, on the order of 10 million years.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
In every potential partnership there are actually two customers, the partner and the end- user, and we must know them both.
From Forbes ● May 12, 2011
"We're going to spread out in a line across the island-" "-we're going forward from this end-" "-until we find you."
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
“The war must be brought to an end. And a de-escalatory step regarding critical infrastructure could be the first step toward peace,” Zelensky said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
“He’s an athlete at defensive end. You see that talent playing on Sundays.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
“You are dealing with imperfect information. So the mindset is to take down the exposure if it is the beginning of the end. We have a short leash on these stocks,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
"This is going to sound a little morbid: I'm going to live my life, and it's going to end. When it ends, I'm going somewhere else, and I'm not going to be here any more."
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
“Just go along. Everyone. Please. No more outbursts and demonstrations. Cooperate and it will turn out all right in the end. Remember: Unity. Security. Prosperity. Dismissed.”
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
The modern tendency is to confine -nce to action, and to express quality or state by -ncy; cf. compliance, pliancy, annoyance, buoyancy. -and, -end, noun suffix, as viand, legend.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
According to these, the -ing in words like rising is not the -ing of the present participle; neither has it originated in the Anglo-Saxon -end.
From A Handbook of the English Language by R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham
It ends a lawsuit alleging TikTok is intentionally designed to addict children to its features, mirroring a host of lawsuits against social media platforms.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
At the end, you don’t know how it ends, that was a fielder’s choice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
It’s your job to manage both and make sure that you are not burning the candle at both ends.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
We understand Paul’s fatal bravado in tenor Michael Kuhn’s jaunty recounting of a race with a rabbit that ends with him crashing his car—it’s a performance designed to deflect Norman’s offer of help.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
She was halfway through it when RECOs appeared at both ends.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Definitions 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.
