Literary notes about Terminate (AI summary)
Writers employ "terminate" with a rich variety of meanings, ranging from the final cessation of events to the formal conclusion of conversations or processes. In narratives, the word can evoke dramatic finality, as when it denotes the abrupt end of life or conflict, such as in discussions about war or death ([1], [2], [3]). Equally, it serves as a marker for neatly closing an argument or discourse, as seen when a character seeks to end a discussion or meeting ([4], [5], [6]). Authors also use "terminate" to indicate the conclusion of abstract processes, like thoughts or emotional states, thereby creating a sense of order or resolution in their work ([7], [8]). In more technical contexts, the term retains its precise, almost mechanical quality, illustrating a termination in method or sequence ([9], [10]). Across these varied uses, "terminate" not only signals an endpoint but also enhances the thematic weight of an ending, whether it be in the life of a character, the unfolding of an event, or the broader narrative structure ([11], [12]).
- All sorts of creatures fight; but only men declare, wage, and terminate war; and they do so only against other men.
— from Psychological Warfare by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger - He had never seen the instrument that was to terminate his life.
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - And consequently this second death shall be the more severe, because no death shall terminate it.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - “Go out this way,” said she, opening a small private door, “and come back at eleven o’clock; we will then terminate this conversation.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Here then we will terminate our discourse of Friendship.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle - This is the conclusion of our correspondence, which I did not begin, and terminate with satisfaction.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman - Every feeling of an ingenuous spirit urged Egremont personally to terminate this prolonged misconception.
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli - Just as all behavior arises in sense impressions it must also terminate in sense impressions to realize its ends and attain its values.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - How to know if the operation will not terminate.—Division of polynomials when the dividend contains a letter which is not found in the divisor.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - The program you exec will become the new owner of the script process, which means that X will terminate when this new program's process terminates.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - O happy souls, to whom it fell in one same day to terminate at once your fervent love and your mortal life!
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio - All Relations terminate in simple Ideas.
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 by John Locke
