terminate
Americanverb (used with object)
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terminates,
present (3rd person singular)
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terminated,
past participle, past
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terminating
present participle
-
to bring to an end; put an end to.
to terminate a contract.
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to occur at or form the conclusion of.
The countess's soliloquy terminates the play.
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to bound or limit spatially; form or be situated at the extremity of.
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to dismiss from a job; fire.
to terminate employees during a recession.
verb (used without object)
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terminates,
present (3rd person singular)
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terminated,
past participle, past
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terminating
present participle
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to end, conclude, or cease.
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(of a train, bus, or other public conveyance) to end a scheduled run at a certain place.
This train terminates in New York.
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to come to an end (often followed by at, in, orwith ).
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to issue or result (usually followed byin ).
verb
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to form, be, or put an end (to); conclude
to terminate a pregnancy
their relationship terminated amicably
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(tr) to connect (suitable circuitry) to the end of an electrical transmission line to absorb the energy and avoid reflections
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(intr) maths (of a decimal expansion) to have only a finite number of digits
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slang (tr) to kill (someone)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonterminativeadjective
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self-terminatingadjective
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self-terminativeadjective
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terminativeadjective
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terminatoryadjective
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unterminatedadjective
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unterminatingadjective
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unterminativeadjective
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nonterminativelyadverb
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terminativelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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terminatesimple
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terminatessimple
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have terminatedperfect
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has terminatedperfect
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am terminatingprogressive
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are terminatingprogressive
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is terminatingprogressive
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have been terminatingperfect progressive
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has been terminatingperfect progressive
Past
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terminatedsimple
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had terminatedperfect
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was terminatingprogressive
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were terminatingprogressive
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had been terminatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of terminate
1580–90; verbal use of late Middle English terminate (adjective) “limited,” from Latin terminātus, past participle of termināre. See term, -ate 1
Explanation
To terminate something is to bring it to an end. Period. Full stop. In ancient Rome, Terminus was the God of landmarks, boundaries, and endings. That’s why his annual party took place at the end of the year. You can imagine the guests walking around in their togas, going, “This party is so great, I wish it would never terminate.” Nowadays, terminate can be used to refer to bringing anything to an end — including one's job or a product line: "When the Weird Food Company announces plans to terminate production of its deep-fried chocolate-covered pickle line, it will be a sad day for lovers of strange snacks."
Vocabulary lists containing terminate
Unit 1: Telling Details
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"The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving
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The Monroe Doctrine (1823)
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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:
Columbia House drew further claims of bad business by allegedly refusing to acknowledge payments, discounting items so that users’ purchases fell just below the agreed-upon threshold and being a notoriously difficult subscription to terminate.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
West asserts that Gilkar and Ahmed pressured her to terminate the pregnancy; Gilkar and Ahmed assert that West initially agreed that termination would be best and even made an appointment before changing her mind.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
He said the government retained the right to terminate the legal status of foreign nationals who "pose a threat to the national security interests of the US".
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
She said, come Friday afternoon, she would have to terminate the staff working on the program that they’d spent 20 years developing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
I didn’t wait for the American bishops to terminate the observance of meadess Fridays before I ate what looked best in the dormitory cafeteria on Friday nights.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
The risks include the possibility of deportation, or that an employer terminates a worker after discovering they don’t have valid work authorization.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Check the conditions of your mother’s timeshare to see if the contract terminates upon her death.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 16, 2026
The Department of Energy terminates a grant for a battery cathode grade lithium hydroxide manufacturing facility.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2025
Due to planned rail works, the cross border route to Dublin terminates at Drogheda with a bus replacement taking passengers the rest of the journey.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2025
The route terminates at the city’s southeast border, close to Richard’s house.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
Permission to stay can be terminated with appropriate notice, typically 10 days, although you cannot use threats, force, or an unlawful lockout.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026
At least 10 senior Fannie Mae employees are leaving the secondary mortgage giant, with a senior administration official saying they were terminated.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
Nearly 5,800 NIH grants have been terminated, frozen or disrupted since March 2025, estimates Grant Witness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
When asked whether the program has been terminated, EPA officials said simply that the committee’s charter expired on June 5, 2025.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
As I was getting too big for Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt’s room, my education under that preposterous female terminated.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
The company said earlier this month that it is terminating several previously announced deals with Crypto.com following of a nearly year-long slump in digital assets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
In focusing on elective abortion procedures, the court didn’t address all procedures for terminating a pregnancy.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
After the couple read the results, Jesse said that they’d discussed beforehand whether they’d consider terminating the pregnancy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
In the letter terminating Pelley's contract on Tuesday, Bilton accused him of hijacking the staff meeting to disparage Bilton, his qualificatons and intentions with "remarkable incivility and contempt".
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
After terminating the call, Venkat opened his laptop to get back to work.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
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.
