ENGLISH
REFERENCE

terminal

n. · adj.
US //ˈtɝmənəɫ// UK //tˈɜːmɪnəl// ter·mi·nal
  1. 1 transport hub (n.)
    B1 Intermediate

    a large building at an airport, train station, or port where passengers start or end their journey.

    a major transport facility at the end of a line or where passengers transfer between ground and air/sea travel.

    Example

    We need to go to Terminal 5 to catch our flight to London.

    Example

    The new airport terminal was designed to handle over twenty million passengers annually, featuring streamlined security and automated baggage systems.
  2. 2 computing interface (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Computing

    a screen or program used to give commands to a computer system.

    a device or software application used for entering data into and displaying data from a computer or network.

    Example

    The programmer opened the terminal to type in a few lines of code.

    Example

    By accessing the server via a remote terminal, the administrator was able to patch the security vulnerability without being physically present in the data centre.
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  1. 3 electrical connection (n.)
    C1 Advanced Technical Science

    a point where a wire connects to a battery or a piece of equipment.

    a point of connection for closing an electric circuit, such as the contact points on a battery.

    Example

    Make sure the red wire is attached firmly to the positive terminal of the battery.

    Example

    Corrosion on the battery terminals prevented the engine from drawing enough current to start during the cold winter morning.
  2. 4 fatal illness (adj.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Medicine

    describing an illness that cannot be cured and will lead to death.

    relating to an incurable disease that is expected to result in the death of the patient.

    Example

    The doctor had the difficult task of telling the family that the cancer was terminal.

    Example

    The hospice provides specialised palliative care for patients with terminal diagnoses, focusing on comfort and quality of life in their final months.
  3. 5 at the very end (adj.)
    C1 Advanced Formal

    happening or appearing at the very end of something.

    forming or situated at the end or extremity of something; final.

    Example

    The terminal chapter of the book explains what happened to the characters years later.

    Example

    The terminal phase of the project involved a rigorous audit to ensure all initial requirements had been met before the final handover.
Origin

Borrowed from Late Latin terminalis (“pertaining to a boundary or to the end, terminal, final”), from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end”). See term, terminus.

Word family

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