end

1 of 5

noun

ˈend

Synonyms of end next

: the part of an area that lies at the boundary

b(1)

: a point that marks the extent of something

(2)

: the point where something ceases to exist

world without end

: the extreme or last part lengthwise : tip

: the terminal unit of something spatial that is marked off by units

: a player stationed at the extremity of a line or team (as in football)

: cessation of a course of action, pursuit, or activity

: death, destruction

c(1)

: the ultimate state

(2)

: result, issue

: something incomplete, fragmentary, or undersized : remnant

: an outcome worked toward : purpose

the end of poetry is to be poetry—

R. P. Warren

: the object by virtue of or for the sake of which an event takes place

: a share in an undertaking

kept your end up

: a particular operation or aspect of an undertaking or organization

the sales end of the business

: something that is extreme : ultimate

—used with the

: a period of action or turn in any of various sports events (such as archery or lawn bowling)

ended

ˈen-dəd

adjective

end

2 of 5

verb (1)

ended; ending; ends

transitive verb

: to bring to an end

: destroy

: to make up the end of

a wedding scene ends the film

intransitive verb

: to come to an end

the meeting will end at noon

: to reach a specified ultimate rank, situation, or place

—usually used with up

ended up as a colonel

: die

end

3 of 5

adjective

: final, ultimate

end results

end markets

end

4 of 5

verb (2)

ended; ending; ends

transitive verb

dialectal, England

: to put (grain or hay) into a barn or stack

end-

5 of 5

combining form

variants or endo-

: within : inside

endoskeleton

compare ect-, exo-

: taking in

endothermic

Phrases

in the end

: after all, ultimately

will surely succeed in the end

no end

: exceedingly

it pleases us no end

on end

: without a stop or letup

it rained for days on end

Choose the Right Synonym for end

Noun

intention, intent, purpose, design, aim, end, object, objective, goal mean what one intends to accomplish or attain.

intention implies little more than what one has in mind to do or bring about.

announced his intention to marry

intent suggests clearer formulation or greater deliberateness.

the clear intent of the statute

purpose suggests a more settled determination.

being successful was her purpose in life

design implies a more carefully calculated plan.

the order of events came by accident, not design

aim adds to these implications of effort directed toward attaining or accomplishing.

her aim was to raise film to an art form

end stresses the intended effect of action often in distinction or contrast to the action or means as such.

willing to use any means to achieve his end

object may equal end but more often applies to a more individually determined wish or need.

his constant object was the achievement of pleasure

objective implies something tangible and immediately attainable.

their objective is to seize the oil fields

goal suggests something attained only by prolonged effort and hardship.

worked years to reach her goals

Verb (1)

close, end, conclude, finish, complete, terminate mean to bring or come to a stopping point or limit.

close usually implies that something has been in some way open as well as unfinished.

close a debate

end conveys a strong sense of finality.

ended his life

conclude may imply a formal closing (as of a meeting).

the service concluded with a blessing

finish may stress completion of a final step in a process.

after it is painted, the house will be finished

complete implies the removal of all deficiencies or a successful finishing of what has been undertaken.

the resolving of this last issue completes the agreement

terminate implies the setting of a limit in time or space.

your employment terminates after three months

Examples of end in a Sentence

Noun The report is due at the end of the month. She interviewed several players at the end of the game. The restaurant is in the north end of the city. We biked from one end of the island to the other. The house is at the end of the road. They live at opposite ends of town. the deep end of a swimming pool She drove the end of the stake into the ground. The car's front end was damaged. One end of the rope was tangled. Verb (1) let's end the meeting with a short prayer unfortunately, an argument ended their date, and they're still not speaking to each other a book so good that you hate to see it end a great general, who ended on the field of battle Adjective the end product of a process the end point of the operation

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

By the end of Young Sheldon, Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) is exactly where he's supposed to be be. —

EW.com, 17 May 2024 Fourteen coyotes were captured and killed by the end of March that year. —

Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 17 May 2024 Woods arranged a transfer of most of the bomb squad to the federal government at the end of 1917, as his term as police commissioner came to an end. —

Steven Johnson, New York Times, 17 May 2024 By the end of Phase II, researchers hope to build 100-square-cm bots. —

Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 16 May 2024 One person says that the company set an internal goal to reach $150 million in annual revenue by the end of the year. —

Jessica Mathews, Fortune, 16 May 2024 At the end of April, Chelsea played Aston Villa in Birmingham. —

Bruce Schoenfeld Robert Fass Anna Diamond David Mason, New York Times, 4 May 2024 And their facial expressions remained icy but magnetic throughout nearly every moment of every song, with Lee offering the very slight curl of a quarter-smile at the end of some songs. —

Piet Levy, Journal Sentinel, 4 May 2024 Students are required to drop their phones at the beginning of class and can take them back at the end — sometimes getting a few seconds before the bell to send messages or check their notifications. —

Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman, 4 May 2024

Verb

The montage ended back in San Francisco, naturally, outside the legendary Fillmore. —

Chris Willman, Variety, 19 May 2024 Remember: The Niners certainly had a hang-over one last time the played in the Super Bowl, though, to be fair, the world had ended between the team’s trip to South Florida and the start of the 2020 NFL season. —

Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 18 May 2024 Wayfair’s sale ends tomorrow, May 19, so there is limited time to score discounts on these items. —

Rachel Trujillo, Peoplemag, 18 May 2024 Block is ending his 17-year tenure in controversy after years of praise for steering the campus through a financial crisis and global pandemic by expanding enrollment, diversity, philanthropy and research funding. —

Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2024 Canning ended his night by striking out Donovan on a changeup, his fifth strikeout of the night. —

Jeff Fletcher, Orange County Register, 18 May 2024 Having set himself a goal of 20% of the vote and fallen just short, McCloskey ended his challenge in time to seek reelection to Congress. —

Ron Elving, NPR, 18 May 2024 Stand Together Music works alongside music industry stakeholders to co-create custom-fit solutions around societal challenges including criminal justice, addiction recovery, education, free speech and ending the war on drugs. —

Marc Schneider, Billboard, 17 May 2024 Jerome Baker, Long and Riley all had productive seasons when healthy, but Miami ended Baker’s six-year run as a starter for the Dolphins to create $9.8 million in cap space. —

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 5 May 2024

Adjective

The long diagonal spout provides greater reach into garden beds, and the interchangeable brass roses (the end sprinkler attachments) allow for customized water pressure from a fine mist to heavier shower. —

Ebony Roberts, wsj.com, 17 Oct. 2023 The end-Triassic extinction, which happened 201 million years ago, was Earth’s third most severe extinction event since the dawn of animal life. —

Howard Lee, Ars Technica, 8 Feb. 2023 The Republican Party has gone all in on the culture war, and its end-state goal is to force the unconditional surrender of blue states on issues of health care access for women and transgender people. —

Brynn Tannehill, The New Republic, 15 Mar. 2023 Associated and Nicolet shares also started to bounce after sinking early Monday morning, posting end-ofthe-day declines 3.8% and 2.9%, respectively, while U.S. Bank’s stock fell 10%. —

Genevieve Redsten, Journal Sentinel, 14 Mar. 2023 Crawford’s end-of-2022 numbers — a 3-6 record and 5.47 ERA with a 23.1 percent strikeout rate and 8.7 percent walk rate before getting shut down with a shoulder impingement — were hardly dazzling. —

Alex Speier, BostonGlobe.com, 3 Mar. 2023 The process would recycle end-of-life battery and production scrap and remanufacture that into critical materials, the Energy Department said in a blog post. —

Matthew Daly, Fortune, 9 Feb. 2023 While most sharks gradually returned to shallow waters after the end-Permian mass extinction, some species permanently adapted to deeper waters, concludes the Cladodontomorph study. —

Samantha Arrowsmith, Discover Magazine, 15 Apr. 2022 SungEel Recycling Park Georgia will recycle end-of-life batteries to reclaim critical metals such as nickel, cobalt and lithium. —

J. Scott Trubey, ajc, 18 Aug. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'end.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English ende, from Old English; akin to Old High German enti end, Latin ante before, Greek anti against

Verb (2)

probably alteration of English dialect in to harvest

Combining form

French, from Greek, from endon within; akin to Greek en in, Old Latin indu, Hittite andan within — more at in

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Adjective

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb (2)

1607, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of end was before the 12th century

See more words from the same century

Phrases Containing end

Cite this Entry

Style

“End.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/end. Accessed 21 May. 2024.

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Kids Definition

end

1 of 3 noun

ˈend

: the part at the boundary of an area

: a point that marks the limit of something or the point where something no longer exists

no end to her generosity

the end of the month

: the last part lengthwise : tip

: the stopping of a process or activity

: death sense 1, destruction

: something left over : remnant

: goal sense 2, purpose

: a football lineman whose position is at the end of the line

: a phase of an undertaking

the sales end of the business

ended

ˈen-dəd

adjective

end

2 of 3 verb

: to bring or come to an end : stop

end-

3 of 3 combining form

variants or endo-

: within : inside

endoskeleton

compare exo-

: taking in

endothermic

Etymology

Combining form

derived from Greek end-, endo- "inside, within"

Last Updated: 20 May 2024 - Updated example sentences

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end

noun

verb (1)

adjective

verb (2)

combining form

Synonyms

Examples of end in a Sentence

Word History

Dictionary Entries Near end

Cite this Entry

Kids Definition