Library / English Dictionary

TERMINATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bring to an end or halt

Example:

The attack on Poland terminated the relatively peaceful period after WW I

Synonyms:

end; terminate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "terminate" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Cause:

cease; end; finish; stop; terminate (have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "terminate"):

close (finish or terminate (meetings, speeches, etc.))

phase out (terminate gradually)

close (complete a business deal, negotiation, or an agreement)

conclude (bring to a close)

adjudicate; decide; resolve; settle (bring to an end; settle conclusively)

closure; cloture (terminate debate by calling for a vote)

complete; finish (come or bring to a finish or an end)

finalise; finalize; nail down; settle (make final; put the last touches on; put into final form)

crush out; extinguish; press out; stub out (extinguish by crushing)

break; interrupt (terminate)

break; break off; discontinue; stop (prevent completion)

break up; dissolve (bring the association of to an end or cause to break up)

break up; dissolve (come to an end)

kill; stamp out (end or extinguish by forceful means)

ax; axe (terminate)

lift; raise (put an end to)

culminate (bring to a head or to the highest point)

abort (terminate before completion)

finish (cause to finish a relationship with somebody)

close out (terminate)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They won't terminate the story

Derivation:

termination (the act of ending something)

terminative (coming to an end)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position

Example:

The company terminated 25% of its workers

Synonyms:

can; dismiss; displace; fire; force out; give notice; give the axe; give the sack; sack; send away; terminate

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "terminate" is one way to...):

remove (remove from a position or an office)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "terminate"):

dismiss; drop; send away; send packing (stop associating with)

squeeze out (force out)

furlough; lay off (dismiss, usually for economic reasons)

clean out (force out)

pension off (let go from employment with an attractive pension)

retire (make (someone) retire)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sense 3

Meaning:

Have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical

Example:

The symphony ends in a pianissimo

Synonyms:

cease; end; finish; stop; terminate

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "terminate"):

break (come to an end)

discontinue (come to or be at an end)

come out; turn out (result or end)

close; conclude (come to a close)

disappear; go away; vanish (become invisible or unnoticeable)

go; run low; run short (to be spent or finished)

run out (become used up; be exhausted)

climax; culminate (end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage)

disappear; vanish (cease to exist)

adjourn; break up; recess (close at the end of a session)

go out (become extinguished)

cut out (cease operating)

lapse (end, at least for a long time)

pass away (go out of existence)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

terminative (coming to an end)

terminus (a place where something ends or is complete)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be the end of; be the last or concluding part of

Example:

This sad scene ended the movie

Synonyms:

end; terminate

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "terminate" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "terminate"):

close (cause a window or an application to disappear on a computer desktop)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

terminative (coming to an end)

terminus (the ultimate goal for which something is done)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Transcription factors interact with specific DNA sequences or DNA-binding proteins to initiate, stimulate, inhibit or terminate transcription.

(Oncogene, Transcription Factor, NCI Thesaurus)

How all this will terminate, I know not, but I had rather die than return shamefully, my purpose unfulfilled.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The club-shaped endings of pineocyte processes terminate in perivascular spaces surrounding capillaries.

(Pineocyte, NCI Thesaurus)

The point at which the gingival sulcus terminates because the tissue attaches directly to the tooth.

(Bottom of Gingival Sulcus, NCI Thesaurus)

GRKs attenuate GPCR signaling in concert with arrestins, proteins that bind GRK-phosphorylated GPCRs to disrupt interaction with G-protein and to terminate signaling.

(Attenuation of GPCR Signaling Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

The hills which surrounded the cottage terminated the valley in that direction; under another name, and in another course, it branched out again between two of the steepest of them.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

An electrocardiographic finding of an atrial tachycardia which terminates in less than 30 seconds.

(Non-Sustained Atrial Tachycardia by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

The lowest energy where a defibrillator device terminates an arrhythmia in a particular subject.

(Defibrillation Threshold, NCI Thesaurus/ACC)

Abortion: When does life begin? Is it ethical to terminate a pregnancy with a birth defect?

(Medical Ethics, NIH)

The calendar date on which an activity is terminated or completed.

(End Date, NCI Thesaurus)