terminate
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to officially end something, like a contract, a meeting, or a plan.
v.to bring a process, agreement, or activity to a formal conclusion. Transitive in this sense.
Simple“The company decided to terminate the contract because the work was not finished on time.”
In context“The legal department advised the board to terminate the partnership immediately following the discovery of the breach of confidentiality.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to end someone's job at a company.
v.to end the employment of an individual, often for cause or due to restructuring. Used as a formal alternative to 'fire'.
Simple“He was terminated from his position after he missed several important deadlines.”
In context“The HR director clarified that the employee was not laid off but was terminated for repeated violations of the safety protocol.”
- 03 B1 Intermediate
v.when a bus, train, or plane reaches the final stop of its trip.
v.of a public transport vehicle or route: to reach the final station or terminus. Intransitive in this sense.
Simple“This train will terminate at London Victoria station.”
In context“Due to engineering works on the line, all northbound services will terminate at the suburban station rather than the city centre.”
- 04 C1 Advanced
v.to kill someone, often used in movies or by the police.
v.to kill or assassinate a target. Often used as a euphemism in military or law enforcement contexts.
Simple“In the science fiction movie, the robot was sent to terminate the hero.”
In context“The spy was given strict orders to terminate the target if the negotiations failed to produce a peaceful resolution.”
Synonyms - 05 C1 Advanced
adj.a number or decimal that has a clear end and does not go on forever.
adj.describing a decimal or mathematical series that has a finite number of digits or terms.
Simple“The fraction one-half results in a terminating decimal of zero point five.”
In context“Students must distinguish between terminating decimals and those that recur infinitely when performing long division.”
UsageOften used as the present participle 'terminating' acting as an adjective.
“He said the government retained the right to terminate the legal status of foreign nationals who "pose a threat to the national security interests of the US".”
“Washington also agreed to terminate sanctions against Iran, issue waivers for Iranian oil exports and allow Tehran to access frozen funds.”
From Middle English terminaten (“to bring to an end; to adjudicate; to end, stop; to border, confine, contain”) from terminat(e) (“bounded”, also used as the past participle of terminaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin terminātus, perfect passive participle of terminō (“to set bounds to, bound, limit, end, close, terminate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from terminus (“a bound, limit, end”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); see term, terminus. Doublet of termine, cognate with French terminer.
From Middle English terminat(e) (“bounded”, also used as the past participle of terminaten), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.