- ter|mi|nal
- ter|mi|nal «TEHR muh nuhl», adjective, noun.–adj.1. a) at the end; forming the end part: »
a terminal appendage.
b) Botany. growing at the end of a branch or stem: »a terminal bud or flower.
3. having to do with or completing a term: »a terminal payment.
4. a) at the end of a railroad line. b) having to do with or for the handling of freight at a terminal.5. marking a boundary, limit, or end: »a terminal pillar.
6. a) of or having to do with the end of life; approaching or resulting in death; fatal: »a terminal disease, terminal cancer.
b) Figurative: »The government is suffering from terminal insanity (Harper's). ... a three-thousand-room hotel development in Bali, “whose impact on that island will be terminal” (New Yorker).
–n.2. a) either end of a railroad line, airline, bus line, or shipping route, at which are located sheds, hangars, garages, offices, and stations to handle freight and passengers; terminus. b) a city or station at the end of a railroad, bus route, or the like.3. a device for making an electrical connection: »the terminals of a battery.
4. a) a teletype machine. b) a typewriter keyboard or other device connected to a computer for remote input or output of data. Some terminals are connected to a video display unit that projects information on a cathode-ray tube. »As many as 30 terminals can be connected at one time, with each user carrying on a direct and in effect uninterrupted dialogue with the computer (Scientific American).
╂[< Latin terminālis < terminus terminus]–ter´mi|nal|ly, adverb.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
