Terminal

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: ter=mi=nal

CIDE DICTIONARY

Terminal, a. [L. terminals: cf. F. terminal. See Term, n.].

•  Of or pertaining to the end or extremity; forming the extremity; as, a terminal edge.  [1913 Webster]
•  Growing at the end of a branch or stem; terminating; as, a terminal bud, flower, or spike.  [1913 Webster]
•  Pertaining to a railroad terminal; connected with the receipt or delivery of freight; as, terminal charges.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Terminal moraine. See the Note under Moraine. -- Terminal statue. See Terminus, n., 2 and 3. -- Terminal velocity. (a) The velocity acquired at the end of a body's motion. (b) The limit toward which the velocity of a body approaches, as of a body falling through the air.

Terminal, n. 

•  That which terminates or ends; termination; extremity.  [1913 Webster]
•  Either of the ends of the conducting circuit of an electrical apparatus, as an inductorium, dynamo, or electric motor, usually provided with binding screws for the attachment of wires by which a current may be conveyed into or from the machine; a pole.  [1913 Webster]
•  The end of a line of railroad, with the switches, stations, sheds, and other appliances pertaining thereto.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  The station at either end of a bus line line which transports freight or passengers.  [PJC]
•  A station where passenger buses start or end a trip; -- also called bus terminal.  [PJC]
•  The structure at an airport where passengers board or debark, and where ticket purchases and baggage pickup is performed; -- also called airline terminal.  [PJC]
•  An electronic device where data may be entered into a computer, and information received from it, usually consisting of a keyboard and video display unit (monitor); the terminal may be integrated or connected directly to a computer, or connected by a communications circuit with a computer at a remote location; -- also called computer terminal.  [PJC]

freight terminal, a terminal used for loading or unloading of freight.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Terminal, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 a (of a disease) ending in death, fatal. b (of a patient) in the last stage of a fatal disease. c (of a morbid condition) forming the last stage of a fatal disease. d colloq. ruinous, disastrous, very great (terminal laziness).
2 of or forming a limit or terminus (terminal station).
3 a Zool. etc. ending a series (terminal joints). b Bot. borne at the end of a stem etc.
4 of or done etc. each term (terminal accounts; terminal examinations).
--n.
1 a terminating thing; an extremity.
2 a terminus for trains or long-distance buses.
3 a departure and arrival building for air passengers.
4 a point of connection for closing an electric circuit.
5 an apparatus for transmission of messages between a user and a computer, communications system, etc.
6 (in full terminal figure) = TERMINUS 6.
7 an installation where oil is stored at the end of a pipeline or at a port.
8 a patient suffering from a terminal illness.

Idiom

terminal velocity a velocity of a falling body such that the resistance of the air etc. prevents further increase of speed under gravity.

Derivative

terminally adv.

Etymology

L terminalis (as TERMINUS)

THESAURUS

Terminal

CRT, L, Z, anchorage, apodosis, bad, beyond recall, beyond remedy, bordering, borderline, boundary, bounding, bourn, branch, cable railway, catastrophe, caudal, ceasing, cessation, clause boundary, clause terminal, close juncture, closing, coastal, coda, cog railway, completing, completive, completory, concluding, conclusion, conclusive, conductor, connection, connector, consummation, consummative, control panel, coupling, crack of doom, crowning, culminating, culmination, cureless, curtain, curtains, deadly, death, decease, definitive, denouement, depot, despaired of, destination, destiny, determinant, determinative, determining, done for, doom, dying, effect, el, electric railway, elevated, elevated railway, embankment, end, end point, ending, endmost, envoi, epilogue, eschatology, eventual, expiration, expiring, extreme, facing death, falling terminal, farthest, fatal, fate, feeder, feeder line, final, final solution, final twitch, final words, finale, finality, finalizing, finis, finish, finishing, fringing, frontier, fulfilling, given up, goal, going, gone, gravity-operated railway, greatest, harbor, haven, hindmost, hopeless, horse railway, immedicable, in articulo mortis, in extremis, incapable of life, incorrigible, incurable, inoperable, irreclaimable, irrecoverable, irredeemable, irreformable, irremediable, irreparable, irretrievable, irreversible, irrevocable, izzard, junction, juncture, keyboard, lag, last, last breath, last gasp, last stop, last things, last trumpet, last words, latest, latter, latter end, lethal, light railroad, limbic, liminal, limit, limitable, limital, limiting, line, littoral, lost, low, main line, marginal, maximum, metro, module, monitor, monorail, moribund, mortal, near death, nonviable, omega, open juncture, past hope, past praying for, pause, payoff, period, peroration, polar, port, position, quietus, rack railway, rack-and-pinion railway, rail, rail line, railroad, railway, remediless, resolution, resting place, rimming, rising terminal, roadbed, roadway, ruined, sandhi, screen, sidetrack, siding, sinking, skirting, slipping, slipping away, station, stop, stoppage, stopping place, street railway, streetcar line, subway, swan song, switchback, tail, term, terminable, terminal point, terminating, termination, terminative, terminus, threshold, track, tram, tramline, trestle, trolley line, trunk, trunk line, tube, turnout, ultimate, underground, undone, unmitigable, unrelievable, unsalvable, unsalvageable, windup, wire, word boundary

ROGET THESAURUS

Terminal

End

N end, close, termination, desinence, conclusion, finis, finale, period, term, terminus, endpoint, last, omega, extreme, extremity, gable end, butt end, fag-end, tip, nib, point, tail, verge, tag, peroration, bonne bouche, bottom dollar, tail end, rear guard, consummation, denouement, finish, fate, doom, doomsday, crack of doom, day of Judgment, dies irae, fall of the curtain, goal, destination, limit, determination, expiration, expiry, extinction, extermination, death, end of all things, finality, eschatology, break up, commencement de la fin, last stage, turning point, coup de grace, deathblow, knock-out-blow, sockdolager, ending, final, terminal, definitive, crowning, last, ultimate, hindermost, rear, caudal, vergent, conterminate, conterminous, conterminable, ended, at an end, settled, decided, over, played out, set at rest, conclusive, penultimate, last but one, last but two, unbegun, uncommenced, fresh, finally, in fine, at the last, once for all, as high as Heaven and as deep as hell, deficit omne quod nascitur, en toute chose il faut considerer la fin, finem respice, ultimus Romanorum.

Limit

N limit, boundary, bounds, confine, enclave, term, bourn, verge, curbstone, but, pale, reservation, termination, terminus, stint, frontier, precinct, marches, backwoods, boundary line, landmark, line of demarcation, line of circumvallation, pillars of Hercules, Rubicon, turning point, ne plus ultra, sluice, floodgate, definite, conterminate, conterminable, terminal, frontier, bordering, thus far, thus far and no further, stick to the reservation, go beyond the pale, Special.

Arrival

N arrival, advent, landing, debarkation, disembarkation, reception, welcome, vin d'honneur, home, goal, goalpost, landing place, landing stage, bunder, resting place, destination, harbor, haven, port, airport, spaceport, terminus, halting place, halting ground, landing strip, runway, terminal, journey's end, anchorage, return, remigration, meeting, rencounter, encounter, completion, recursion, arriving, homeward bound, here, hither, Int, welcome!, hail!, all Hail!, good-day, good morrow!, any port in a storm.