This word comes straight from Latin. In the Roman empire, a terminus was a boundary stone, and all boundary stones had a minor god associated with them, whose name was Terminus. Terminus was a kind of keeper of the peace, since wherever there was a terminus there could be no arguments about where your property ended and your neighbor's property began. So Terminus even had his own festival, the Terminalia, when images of the god were draped with flower garlands. Today the word shows up in all kinds of places, including in the name of numerous hotels worldwide built near a city's railway terminus.
Examples of terminus in a Sentence
Stockholm is the terminus for the southbound train.
Geologists took samples from the terminus of the glacier.
the terminus of the DNA strand
Recent Examples on the WebRead for yourself: Andromeda stepped back in terror, only to feel her proton backplate meet the cold, unforgiving steel of the mainframe’s terminus.—Sean McGowan, The New Yorker, 19 June 2024 Williams is also the terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway, which departs from the historic Williams Depot.—Stefanie Waldek, Travel + Leisure, 17 June 2024 The northern terminus connects to the Ozaukee Interurban Trail, which users can take all the way to Sheboygan County.—Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 23 May 2024 As the trail nears its terminus at FR 618, tree cover increases with a dusting of piñon pine joining the mix of mesquite, scrub oak and sharp-spined crucifixion thorn.—Mare Czinar, The Arizona Republic, 18 Jan. 2024 See all Example Sentences for terminus
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'terminus.' 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
Latin, boundary marker, limit — more at term entry 1
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