1
as in to end
to bring (an event) to a natural or appropriate stopping point
we need to terminate the discussion for this evening, but we'll resume tomorrow morning
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to stop
to come to an end
this class will terminate with the arrival of Memorial Day
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3
4
as in to assassinate
to put to death deliberately
the operative's covert mission was to terminate the leader of the opposition
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in to remove
to let go from office, service, or employment
he was terminated for constantly coming in to work late
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in terminable
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of terminate
Glenn Garner, Deadline, 5 June 2025
Last Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security took the extraordinary step of terminating Harvard’s certification to enroll international students; Harvard is suing the D.H.S., and a federal judge has halted the department’s effort.
—Jelani Cobb, New Yorker, 25 May 2025
From Usa Today Network and Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 9 Aug. 2021
That control gave Puglisi the sole authority to set up new credit card accounts, change spending limits, manage card access and terminate accounts.
—Washington Post, 17 Aug. 2021
See All Example Sentences for terminate
Verb
The monologue came hours after Musk responded to Trump’s threat to terminate Tesla’s government subsidies with a loaded tweet.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 5 June 2025
Last Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security took the extraordinary step of terminating Harvard’s certification to enroll international students; Harvard is suing the D.H.S., and a federal judge has halted the department’s effort.
—Jelani Cobb, New Yorker, 25 May 2025
Adjective
ChristianaCare, the state’s largest health care system and largest private employer, has stated that all employees must receive the first dose of the vaccine by Sept. 21, or the health system with terminate workers who don’t unless given an exemption.
—From Usa Today Network and Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 9 Aug. 2021
That control gave Puglisi the sole authority to set up new credit card accounts, change spending limits, manage card access and terminate accounts.
—Washington Post, 17 Aug. 2021
See All Example Sentences for terminate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for terminate
Verb
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Strategically, Hamas has sought all along to use the hostages as a bargaining chip to constrain Israel and force it to end the war—and thereby guarantee Hamas’s own survival.—
Assaf Orion,
Foreign Affairs,
3 June 2025
-
Delegations from the warring sides agreed Monday to swap dead and wounded troops, but their conditions for ending the war remained far apart.—
Illia Novikov,
Los Angeles Times,
3 June 2025
Verb
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On September 2, Border Force officers had stopped two women at London Stansted Airport.—
Stuart James,
New York Times,
6 June 2025
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Goldman Sachs and Nasdaq have both stopped requiring companies using them for an IPO to have diverse board members.—
Liz Hoffman,
semafor.com,
5 June 2025
Verb
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Clean lines, classic shapes and unexpected edges define Jade Ruzzo jewels.—
Anthony DeMarco,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2025
-
This was bricolage in the mode of postmodernism, to use a term that Jencks had a leading role in propagating, defining it in multiple competing and overlapping (some would say maddening) ways.—
Glenn Adamson,
Artforum,
1 June 2025
Verb
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Musk first announced his support for Trump shortly after the then-candidate was nearly assassinated on stage at a Pennsylvania rally last July.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
6 June 2025
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This time, he’s tasked with assassinating a powerful member of a secret society of international crime bosses known as the High Table.—
Emily Blackwood,
People.com,
6 June 2025
Verb
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To remove that barrier, managers can ensure their team receives basic AI literacy and capability training.—
Heide Abelli,
Forbes.com,
2 June 2025
-
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent a licensed trapper to remove the injured alligator, officials said.—
Mark Price,
Miami Herald,
2 June 2025
Adjective
-
These transfers can be made to trusts, such as qualified terminable interest property trust which can be relatively simple and inexpensive to create and also defer estate tax on unlimited wealth.—
Martin Shenkman,
Forbes,
20 Feb. 2025
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Another type of trust to consider in this situation would be a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust.—
Liz Weston,
oregonlive,
6 Aug. 2023
Verb
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Some investors must be concluding that this is basically a no-growth company.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
29 May 2025
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The court concluded that long-standing trade deficits do not constitute a sudden or extraordinary national emergency.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 May 2025
Verb
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Yet, for some time now, there has been a third movement that tends to be articulated more in art than elsewhere, even if elsewhere there has long since ceased to be any alternative.—
Diedrich Diederichsen,
Artforum,
1 June 2025
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The mayor also said that late-night establishments and all nightclubs must cease operations at midnight.—
Becca Longmire,
People.com,
30 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Terminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/terminate. Accessed 11 Jun. 2025.
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