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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
David Wharton, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2024
In 1905, the tracks for what are now the No. 2 and No. 5 trains reached a terminus at the neighborhood called West Farms, on the Bronx River.
—Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024
Beyond Skyline Drive, trails abound near the park’s southern terminus (closest to Charlottesville), including the ten-mile Riprap Trail circuit hike, which features sweeping mountain vistas with brief portions along the famed AT.
—Stephanie Vermillion, Outside Online, 2 Nov. 2021
Torrance county is the eastern terminus of RioSol which traverses 349.4 miles through Valencia, Socorro, Sierra, Luna, Grant, and Hidalgo counties, powering local New Mexico communities with New Mexico wind-rich energy, before continuing its path through Arizona.
—Miami Herald, 11 July 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.
Dictionary Entries Near terminus
Cite this Entry
“Terminus.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terminus. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
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terminus
noun
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terminus
noun
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