ending
Americannoun
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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
- unending adjective
- unendingly adverb
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.
When the rally kicked off in recent days, data indicated it was more about technical trading strategies than confidence that the war was ending.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026
In between, Trump weighed his options as the world waited to see if the countries were any closer to ending the war.
From BBC • Apr. 21, 2026
The S&P 500 rallied 4.5% last week, the largest one-week percentage gain since the week ending May 16, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 20, 2026
With Vice President JD Vance heading for Pakistan, it’s still unclear whether new talks on ending the war will even happen.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026
“You can’t have the ending you wanted. I can’t have the ending I wanted. None of this can end how we wanted it to.”
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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.
