terminator
Americannoun
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a person or thing that terminates.
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Astronomy. the dividing line between the illuminated and the unilluminated part of a satellite or planet, especially the moon.
noun
Etymology
Origin of terminator
1760–70; < Late Latin terminātor, equivalent to terminā ( re ) to terminate + -tor -tor
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.
It was an emotional triumph—over terminator Tadej Pogacar, no less—for one of cycling’s best.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
Artemis II pilot Victor Glover heard the call of the terminator: the border between the moon’s daytime and nighttime — the lunar dawn.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026
That frontier between light and darkness is known as the terminator.
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026
Further data will be needed to confirm with certainty that this intriguing excess of light on the eastern terminator of WASP-76b is a glory.
From Science Daily • Apr. 5, 2024
Harriot, looking at the moon, saw the irregular terminator, the highlights and shadows, the mountain ranges and valleys that Galileo had described—and he also convinced himself that he saw Galileo’s imaginary crater.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
