ending

American  

[en-ding] / ˈɛn dɪŋ /

noun

1. a bringing or coming to an end; termination; close.

   Putting away the Christmas ornaments marked the ending of the season.

2. the final or concluding part; conclusion.

   a story with a happy ending.

3. death; destruction.

4. Grammar. a morpheme, especially an inflection, at the end of a word, as -s in cuts.

5. (not in technical use) any final word part, as the -ow of widow.

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ending British  

/ ˈɛndɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of bringing to or reaching an end

2. the last part of something, as a book, film, etc

3. the final part of a word, esp a suffix

4. chess another word for endgame

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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

Related Words

• closure
• completion
• denouement
• finale
• outcome
• period
• resolution