ending
noun/ˈɛndɪŋ/
Etymology From Middle English endynge, endyng, endinge, from Old English endung, ġeendung (“ending”), equivalent to end + -ing. Cognate with Dutch ending (“ending”), German Endung (“ending”).
1
A termination or conclusion.
2
The last part of something.
- The book has a happy ending.
- The film has an unexpected ending.
1 more example
- Modern romance, like Greek tragedy, celebrates the mystery of dismemberment, which is life in time. The happy ending is justly scorned as a misrepresentation; for the world, as we know it, as we have seen it, yields but one ending: death, disintegration, dismemberment, and the crucifixion of our heart with the passing of the forms that we have loved.1968, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd edition, London: Fontana Press, published 1993, page 25:
3
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences The last morpheme of a word, added to some base to make an inflected form (such as -s in "dogs").
- Spanish verb forms have different endings depending on the tense, mood and person.
- Using diachronic evidence from Swedish, I will show that inflectional endings may be maintained as “less cumulative” inflections, or even degrammaticalize into a derivational suffix or a clitic.2002, Ilse Wischer, Gabriele Diewald, New Reflections on Grammaticalization, John Benjamins Publishing, →ISBN, page 45:
- Synonyms
- conclusion, end, termination, finale, suffix
- Derived terms
- bad ending, case ending, double-ending, Elam ending, endingless, fairy-tale ending, fairytale ending, feminine ending, good beginning makes a good ending, good ending, happy ending, harem ending, Hollywood ending, masculine ending, nerve ending, never-ending, true ending, world ending, world-ending, zero ending