Dictionary

terminator en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɜː.mɪ.næɪ.tə/ (Australia)
• [ˈtɝ.mɪˌneɪ.ɾɚ] (Canada, General-American)
• /ˈtɜː.mɪ.neɪ.tə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• [ˈtɜː.mɪ.næɪ.ɾə] (Australia)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈtɝ.mɪˌneɪ.tɚ/ (Canada, General-American)

Etymology

* Partly from post-classical Latin terminator (5th century), from Latin terminō; partly from terminate + -or. * (android that kills humans): After the 1984 film The Terminator.

Meanings

1. Someone who terminates or ends something, especially (in later use) an assassin or exterminator.
2. A text character or string that serves to mark the end of a document or transmission.
3. The line between the day side and the night side of a moon, planet or other celestial body.
   • Another view captured by Wiseman shows the Earth divided by night and day. That frontier between light and darkness is known as the terminator. 2026 April 3, Sofia Ferreira Santos, “Artemis II crew take 'spectacular' image of Earth”, in BBC:
   • Harriot, looking at the moon, saw the irregular terminator, the highlights and shadows, the mountain ranges and valleys that Galileo had described – and he also convinced himself that he saw Galileo's imaginary crater. 2015, David Wootton, The Invention of Science, Penguin, published 2016, page 218:
4. A DNA sequence that causes RNA transcription to cease and an mRNA transcript to break off.
5. An electrical device that absorbs reflection at the end of a transmission line.
6. An intelligent android created to destroy humans.
   • Opposite of natural monsters there are technological monsters such as terminators, cyborgs, and robocops—all of which undermine dichotomies between the artificial and the organic, the prosthetic and the natural. 2010, Tyson E. Lewis, Richard Kahn, Education Out of Bounds, page 1:

Forms

Deriveds

terminator pig · Governator · antiterminator · Bushinator · sperminator · Terminatoresque

Synonyms

separatrix · grey line · twilight zone

Translations (42)

uk терміна́тор (an electrical device) · de Terminator (an AI machine in science fiction) · es terminator (terminéitor) (an AI machine in science fiction) · fi terminaattori (the line between the day side and the night side) · ka ტერმინატორი (one who terminates) · uk терміна́тор (the line between the day side and the night side) · ka ტერმინატორი (a DNA sequence) · pt terminador (one who terminates) · pt terminador (the line between the day side and the night side) · id terminator (the line between the day side and the night side) · ar مُبِيد (an AI machine in science fiction) · ru терминатор (one who terminates) · fr terminateur (an electrical device) · ru терминатор (an electrical device) · cmn 魔鬼終結者 /魔鬼终结者 (an AI machine in science fiction) · ka ტერმინატორი (the line between the day side and the night side) · ru термина́тор (an AI machine in science fiction) · pt terminador (a DNA sequence) · fi päätevastus (an electrical device) · de Nachtlinie (the line between the day side and the night side) · el εξολοθρευτής (an AI machine in science fiction) · pt exterminador (an AI machine in science fiction) · mr टर्मिनेटर (an AI machine in science fiction) · ka ტერმინატორი (an AI machine in science fiction) · cmn 終結者 /终结者 (an AI machine in science fiction) · fr terminateur (the line between the day side and the night side) · ja ターミネーター (an AI machine in science fiction) · ja 終端器 (an electrical device) · bg терминатор (the line between the day side and the night side) · ja ターミネータ (an electrical device) · uk терміна́тор (a DNA sequence) · ru терминатор (the line between the day side and the night side) · hu terminátor (an AI machine in science fiction) · fi lopettaja (one who terminates) · cmn 殲滅者 /歼灭者 (an AI machine in science fiction) · es terminador (one who terminates) · fi tuhoaja (one who terminates) · ru терминатор (a DNA sequence) · ka ტერმინატორი (an electrical device) · pl terminator (an electrical device) · pl terminator (the line between the day side and the night side) · el εξολοθρευτής (one who terminates)

wikipedia: The Terminator