termination

American  

[tur-muh-ney-shuhn] / ˌtɜr məˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

• terminations
  plural

1. the act of terminating

2. the fact of being terminated.

3. the place or part where anything terminates; bound or limit.

4. an end or extremity; close or conclusion.

5. an issue or result.

6. Grammar. a suffix or ending.

7. an ending of employment with a specific employer.

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termination British  

/ ˌtɜːmɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of terminating or the state of being terminated

2. something that terminates

3. a final result

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Usage

What does termination mean? Termination is the act of bringing something to an end or the physical end of something. Termination is the noun form of the verb terminate, meaning to bring an end to. It also means to fire someone from a job, and termination is perhaps most commonly used as a way to refer to this process or its result, as in His employment with the company ended in termination. Example: The termination of the program last year hurt the many people who relied on its benefits.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nontermination
  noun
• terminational
  adjective
• unterminational
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• terminations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of termination

1400–50; late Middle English terminacion < Latin terminātiōn- (stem of terminātiō ) decision. See terminate, -ion

Explanation

Whether it refers to getting fired from a job, a contract running out, or the assassination of a deep-cover spy, termination is "the end of the line." You may be familiar with a certain time-traveling cyborg assassin, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. His character was a "terminator," in a movie of the same name, and his goal was the termination of Sarah Connor. Lucky for Sarah, and the supposed future of our planet, the termination was unsuccessful. In the real world, you're more likely to see the word termination used when a contract, program, or job comes to an end, unexpectedly or as planned.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

termination terminations

Among its specific findings was that 108 of the 264 leases identified by Doge for termination were already in the process of ending before the body was established.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

The Office of Management and Budget then identified the projects announced for termination in October, they said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Over seven pages, the Board of Education provided its justifications for Carvalho’s termination, citing allegedly unreported gifts, unreported outside income and donor-funded travel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

The Russian port is a key oil export hub and the termination point for a pipeline, partly owned by Chevron, that feeds 2% of the world’s daily oil supplies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

“Then go home and take a nap,” the captain advised, “because if you doze off out there again, I’ll be writing a much shorter letter for your file. A termination letter.”

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

The merit board alone reported 20,335 pending appeals that year, four times its usual load, filed by workers swept out in the mass terminations, and with Harris gone it could decide none of them.

From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2026

In the view of lower courts, the bar on judicial review doesn’t apply to “procedural errors” underlying the terminations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

The terminations “throw away years of hard work and millions of dollars,” the declaration observed: “Ending a $5 million research study when it is 80% complete does not save $1 million, it wastes $4 million.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026

The terminations took effect in the fall, with those who had work authorizations until October 2026 permitted to keep them.

From Salon ● Apr. 30, 2026

The "–cene" terminations were thus something of a compromise.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

Related Words

• completion
• expiry