TERMINATE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Terminate

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/tˈərmənˌeɪt/ Listen

verb

Terminate v. t. (past & past part. terminated; pres. part. terminating)

To set a term or limit to; to form the extreme point or side of; to bound; to limit; as, to terminate a surface by a line.

To put an end to; to make to cease; as, to terminate an effort, or a controversy.

Hence, to put the finishing touch to; to bring to completion; to perfect. "During this interval of calm and prosperity, he (Michael Angelo) terminated two figures of slaves, destined for the tomb, in an incomparable style of art."

Terminate v. i.

To be limited in space by a point, line, or surface; to stop short; to end; to cease; as, the torrid zone terminates at the tropics.

To come to a limit in time; to end; to close. "The wisdom of this world, its designs and efficacy, terminate on zhis side heaven."

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Etymology of 'Terminate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Terminate" Quotes from Famous Books

... of my reckoning of time, and when I reached St. Meuse I found that I had a week to stay there before the event should occur which I had come to witness; but the interval could not be regarded as lost time, for St. Meuse is a very pleasant city and the conditions which were so soon to terminate presented a most interesting field ...

— Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places • Archibald Forbes

... To terminate her correspondence with the prince appeared the most painful remedy that could be adopted by a heart fascinated with his accomplishments, and soothed by his professions of inviolable attachment. She was aware that, in the eye of the world, the reputation of ...

— Beaux and Belles of England • Mary Robinson

... point on which we stood, the immense vale of the Saone extended like a bird's-eye view of the ocean, its relative distances marked by towns and villages glittering like white sails. Above the flat line of haze, which, at the first glance, appears to terminate the prospect at the distance of sixty miles, or more, we distinguished a faint blue outline of lofty mountains, which must have been the barrier separating France from Switzerland; and, as occasional gleams of sunshine broke out, the glittering and jagged lines of a barrier still ...

— Itinerary of Provence and the Rhone - Made During the Year 1819 • John Hughes

... feeling of ownership with regard to David which had played so large a part in their childhood, even when she had teased and plagued him most. She might worry and defy him; but no sooner did another woman appropriate him, threaten to terminate for good that hold of his sister upon him which had been so lately renewed, than she was flooded with jealous rage. David had escaped her—he was hers no longer—he was Elise Delaunay's! Nothing that she did could scandalise or make him angry any more. He had ...

— The History of David Grieve • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... blended light of myriads of stars, so remote as to be incapable of definition by his telescope. In his 'Nuncius Sidereus' he gives an account of his observations of the Galaxy and expresses his satisfaction that he has been enabled to terminate an ancient controversy by demonstrating to the senses the stellar structure of the Milky Way. When engaged in exploring the celestial regions with his telescope, Galileo observed a marked difference in the appearance of the fixed ...

— The Astronomy of Milton's 'Paradise Lost' • Thomas Orchard

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