- 1(of an illness or a disease) that cannot be cured and will lead to death, often slowly He has terminal lung cancer. The illness is usually terminal. (figurative) She's suffering from terminal (= very great) boredom. Wordfinderhealthacute, condition, health, medicine, outbreak, pain, recover, relapse, terminal, treatment See related entries: Being ill
- 2(of a person) suffering from an illness that cannot be cured and will lead to death a terminal patient
- 3certain to get worse and come to an end The industry is in terminal decline.
- 4[only before noun] (formal or specialist) at the end of something a terminal branch of a tree terminal examinations (= at the end of a course, etc.) Word Originearly 19th cent.: from Latin terminalis, from terminus ‘end, boundary’.
Check pronunciation: terminal
