Concluding

How to spell concluding

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce concluding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does concluding mean?

1. adjectiveComing at the end; final or closing.
2. verbIn the act of bringing something to an end or reaching a decision.

Concluding in a sentence

• adjective

  The chairman saved his strongest point for his concluding remarks.

• verb

  She was concluding the meeting just as the latecomers arrived.

• adjective

  The concluding chapter ties together every loose thread of the story.

• verb

  The lawyers spent the afternoon concluding the lengthy contract negotiations.

Where does concluding come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb concludere, which meant 'to shut up' or 'to bring to a close', formed from con- ('together') and claudere ('to close or shut'). The same claudere root sits quietly inside a whole family of English words, including 'close', 'enclose', 'exclude', and 'seclude', all of which carry the idea of shutting something. English took 'conclude' from Latin in the late 1300s, originally with the legal sense of settling or deciding a matter before it broadened to mean simply ending or finishing. The form 'concluding' is the present participle, adding the regular -ing ending. Because the spelling follows its Latin parts so faithfully (con + clud + ing), it has no silent letters or hidden traps; the only thing to remember is the single 'c' before 'lud' and the 'u' that comes straight from claudere.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• clud (from Latin claudere: to close, shut)
• -ing (present participle/adjective suffix)