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:
This helps to explain the uncharacteristically good investment performance of the average college and university endowment for the fiscal year ending June 30.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
U.S. distillate inventories are down, with an especially pronounced shortfall on the East Coast, where inventories the week ending Oct.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
After Thursday saw King Kenny recruited by the traitors - that episode ending with his deliciously evil laugh - the YouTuber and former aspiring boxer brought fresh and fiendish energy to the turret.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
After completing its stay, the spacecraft will carry time-sensitive research materials and other cargo back to Earth, ending its journey with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
As I said at the very beginning, the book you are holding in your hands does not have a happy ending.
From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket
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
Alongside the pearled axons, they found evidence of ultrafast endocytosis, a process through which nerve endings quickly retrieve membrane after releasing chemical messages.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
He points to cult TV shows whose endings have divided fans - like The Sopranos, Dexter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
He was inspired by the endings of “A Doll’s House” and “Ghosts.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
At first, my friends grumbled because we had to change a lot of the feminine endings, and so the rhymes all went to pot.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
