Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for

ending

[ en-ding ]

noun

  1. a bringing or coming to an end; termination; close:

    Putting away the Christmas ornaments marked the ending of the season.

  2. the final or concluding part; conclusion:

    a story with a happy ending.

  3. death; destruction.
  4. Grammar. a morpheme, especially an inflection, at the end of a word, as -s in cuts.
  5. (not in technical use) any final word part, as the -ow of widow.


ending

/ ˈɛԻɪŋ /

noun

  1. the act of bringing to or reaching an end
  2. the last part of something, as a book, film, etc
  3. the final part of a word, esp a suffix
  4. chess another word for endgame
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Discover More

Other Word Forms

  • ܲ·ԻiԲ adjective
  • ܲ·ԻiԲ·ly adverb
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of ending1

First recorded before 1000; Middle English endyng, Old English endung; equivalent to end 1 + -ing 1
Discover More

Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

It comes a day after US President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine were "very close to a deal" on ending the war, following talks between his envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin this week.

From

Meant as a temporary measure, the so-called Nixon shock of 1971 caused the dollar to drop, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates established after the end of World War II.

From

The next step will be to halve the number of apprentices over the next year as their contracts finish, ending up with six by the end of this year.

From

I also wanted to shoot on film, which we did for the beginning and the ending.

From

The real ending is everything leading up to that.

From

Advertisement

Discover More

More About Ending

is anending?

An ending is a conclusion, as in I like stories with a happy ending.

An ending is also a time when something is finishing or nearing completion, as in I’m ending my school career with all As.

An ending is the opposite of a beginning and is used to mean the conclusion of something. Movies have endings. So do civilizations, like the Roman Empire. We even sometimes refer to a person’s death as an ending. Endings and the reasons or events surrounding them are often intensely studied or debated.

Example: I liked the book until the terrible ending where the villain won in the last chapter.

Where doesending come from?

The first records of the term ending come from before the year 1000. It ultimately comes from the Old English endung. Ending combines the verb end, meaning “to finalize or complete,” and the suffix -ing, which turns a verb into a noun that expresses action. An ending is the point at which something is performing a last action or when something is reaching its finish.

Ending is the final moments or period of time when something is finishing. For example, the last inning of a baseball game is the game’s ending. An ending can be long or short. It is sometimes unclear when an ending begins, such as with empires or kingdoms that last hundreds or thousands of years.

Ending is sometimes used to mean “end,” but the two words mean slightly different things. Typically, an end is the exact point at which something is over, while an ending can be a longer period of time during which something is concluding.

For example, when someone says “the end of a book” they usually mean the final chapter or final paragraph. However, the ending of a book could mean several chapters, depending on how long the conclusion takes.

This is the reason that we say “the end of the road” when we mean the point where the road stops.

Did you know ... ?

are some other forms related to ending?

  • unending (adjective)
  • unendingly (adverb)

are some synonyms for ending?

are some words that share a root or word element with ending?

are some words that often get used in discussing ending?

are some words ending may be commonly confused with?

How isending used in real life?

Ending is an extremely common word that refers to the time that something is concluding or finishing.

Try usingending!

Which of the following is most likely to contain the ending of a novel?

A. the first chapter
B. the middle chapters
C. the last chapter

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


Endicottend in itself