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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
Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 27 Mar. 2025
The trail’s eastern terminus is at Muir’s birthplace, a humble three-story home in Dunbar that’s now a historic museum and free to visit.
—Megan Michelson, Outside Online, 27 Jan. 2025
Her home town, which is situated in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, east of Española, is the terminus of a revered annual pilgrimage.
—Abe Streep, The New Yorker, 27 Dec. 2024
Waterloo, Britain’s largest railway station and a terminus for several train lines, is a short walk from the loft.
—Michael Kaminer, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for terminus
Cite this Entry
“Terminus.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terminus. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
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terminus
noun
Medical Definition
terminus
noun
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