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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

terminate with extreme prejudice en · VERB

Etymology

First appears c. 1969. Derives from US military intelligence and CIA documents, in news coverage of the Green Beret Case, and further popularized in the movie Apocalypse Now (1979). A play on the term terminate with prejudice when an employee’s employment is terminated, meaning will not rehire employee to same position in future (i.e., prejudiced against rehiring), hence terminate definitively, i.e., kill.

Meanings

  1. (US, euphemistic) To murder; to assassinate.
    • The government ordered the spies to be terminated with extreme prejudice: they did not want them to expose what they knew in a public trial.
    • Colonel Lucas: ... When you find the Colonel, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and terminate the Colonel's command. Willard: Terminate the Colonel? ... Civilian: Terminate with extreme prejudice. 1979, Apocalypse Now:
    • ...suggested that he either be isolated or ‘terminated with extreme prejudice.’ This term is said to be an intelligence euphemism for execution. 1969 August 14, Terence Smith, “Details of Green Beret Case Are Reported in Saigon”, in The New York Times:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
terminates with extreme prejudice Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
terminated with extreme prejudice Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
terminated with extreme prejudice Tense=Past lexicographic
terminating with extreme prejudice Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Deriveds

tweep · extreme prejudice

Relateds

without prejudice · with prejudice · assassination · wet work

wikipedia: termination of employment · wikipedia: Apocalypse Now