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.
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
At the highest possible end, a comparable would be Mathieu van der Poel, the Dutch terminator who has won Tour stages, one-day classics like Paris-Roubaix and turns up for races in a Lamborghini.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
In the case of WASP-76b, the observations show an increase in the amount of light from the terminator to the east of the planet compared with the one to the west.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 5, 2024
When you look at the moon through a telescope you cannot see mountains, but the ragged terminator indicates that mountains are there.
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.
