English Reference
noun · adjective

terminal

n. · adj.
US /ˈtɝmənəɫ/ UK /tˈɜːmɪnəl/ ter·mi·nal UK spelling terminal's, terminal's

  1. 01 B1 Intermediate

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

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

    Simple

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

    In context

    The new airport terminal was designed to handle over twenty million passengers annually, featuring streamlined security and automated baggage systems.

  2. 02 B2 Upper Intermediate Computing

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

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

    Simple

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

    In context

    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.

    consolecommand line
  3. 03 C1 Advanced Technical Science

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

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

    Simple

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

    In context

    Corrosion on the battery terminals prevented the engine from drawing enough current to start during the cold winter morning.

  4. 04 B2 Upper Intermediate Medicine

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

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

    Simple

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

    In context

    The hospice provides specialised palliative care for patients with terminal diagnoses, focusing on comfort and quality of life in their final months.

    curablebenign
  5. 05 C1 Advanced Formal

    adj.happening or appearing at the very end of something.

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

    Simple

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

    In context

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

Usage terminal building

Figures published on Tuesday showed 7.9 million passengers passed through Heathrow’s terminals in July, compared with Istanbul’s 8.15 million.

The Guardian· 13 Aug 2026

It also hit Russia’s Sheshkharis oil offloading terminal, part of a campaign to starve Russia of fossil fuel export revenue.

Al Jazeera· 14 Aug 2026

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.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Latin terminus
Level C1 · Advanced
Frequency Common
Updated