Terminating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Causing something to end or finish ; coming to a stop or completion at a particular point
2. Ending a process, agreement, or activity ; arriving at a final point or conclusion
3. Bringing a situation or action to a close ; ceasing or finishing at a defined moment

Etymology: The verb "terminate" began as a boundary word. Its ancestor is Latin "terminus," meaning a boundary stone or limit, and the Latin verb "terminare" meant to set bounds to, to limit, or to end. Middle English picked it up with the sense of bringing something to an end, but also with the older sense of bordering or confining, so the idea of an edge stayed alive in the word from the start. The legal side of the word is just as old. Middle English uses included "to adjudicate," meaning to reach a decision in a dispute, so ending an argument by judgment was part of the sense from the beginning. That is why the word still sits comfortably with agreements and contracts today. "Termine" is a doublet of "terminate," the same Latin root arriving by a different route. "Term," "terminal," and "terminus" all come from the same source, so a train terminus and a final conclusion share a single ancestral idea: the marker that says where something stops.

Synonyms: ending, concluding, ceasing, stopping, finishing

Antonyms: starting, beginning, initiating, commencing, launching