finial
Americannoun
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Architecture. a relatively small, ornamental, terminal feature at the top of a gable, pinnacle, etc.
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an ornamental termination to the top of a piece of furniture, or of one part of such a piece.
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Typography. a curve terminating the main stroke of the characters in some italic fonts.
noun
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an ornament on top of a spire, gable, etc, esp in the form of a foliated fleur-de-lys
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an ornament at the top of a piece of furniture, etc
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of finial
1400–50; late Middle English, derivative of Latin fīnis end; see -al 1
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.
An anonymous sheet by an Austrian designer from about 1515 shows the whole operation compressed into a single image of a finial, upon which are inscribed the subdivided squares that generated it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
The setting also nearly upstages the bird in a painting of a kestrel perched on a finial atop an ornate building.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 13, 2023
That much was evident in the research; however, the Brinkmanns needed to guess on the creature’s finial crown, which archaeologists never recovered.
From New York Times ● Aug. 17, 2022
In addition to the Rembrandt, there were some unusually esoteric items that were taken as well, like a Chinese gu vessel and a finial off a Napoleonic flag.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2021
The smooth blue of her chest was unpierced by the iron finial, and her hair was still studded with flowers.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
