Terminating

How to spell terminating

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce terminating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does terminating mean?

1. verbBringing something to an end, or being in the process of ending or stopping it.

Terminating in a sentence

• The firm is terminating several short-term contracts before the year ends.

• Terminating the lease early meant forfeiting the deposit.

Where does terminating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun terminus, which literally meant a 'boundary marker' or 'limit', the stone or post that showed where one piece of land stopped and another began. From that noun Latin formed the verb terminare, meaning 'to set a limit' or 'to bring to an end', and its participle terminatus gave rise to the sense of something being closed off or finished. English absorbed the verb 'terminate' in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, partly through Old French, keeping the idea of marking the end of a thing. The Romans even worshipped a minor god named Terminus who guarded boundary stones, which neatly fixes the original spatial sense. The present participle 'terminating' simply adds the -ing ending, and the single n and single t are worth remembering, since the deceptive pull toward doubling is the main spelling trap.

How the word is built

• termin- (from terminus: boundary, end)
• -ate (verb-forming suffix)
• -ing (present participle suffix)