end
verb/end/
/end/
[intransitive, transitive]Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they end | /end/ /end/ |
| he / she / it ends | /endz/ /endz/ |
| past simple ended | /ˈendɪd/ /ˈendɪd/ |
| past participle ended | /ˈendɪd/ /ˈendɪd/ |
| -ing form ending | /ˈendɪŋ/ /ˈendɪŋ/ |
- to finish; to reach a point and go no further; to make something finish
- At last the war ended.
- The road ends here.
- How does the story end?
- The problems did not end there.
- end with something Her note ended with the words: ‘See you soon.’
- end by doing something The speaker ended by suggesting some topics for discussion.
- end something They decided to end their relationship.
- to end the occupation/conflict/violence
- A back injury effectively ended her career.
- end something with something The team ended the season with a 4–0 win.
- + speech ‘And that was that,’ she ended.
Express Yourself Ending a conversationEnding a conversationWhen you stop talking to somebody, there are polite ways to end a conversation:- It's been lovely talking to you.
- It's been so nice to hear all your news.
- It's been good to catch up.
- I'm so glad we got to talk.
- I'm sorry, I have to rush off.
- It was nice to meet you. I'm sorry I have to go now.
- Will you excuse me? There's someone I've got to speak to.
Extra Examples- They ended the play with a song.
- His speech ended on a positive note.
- The meeting ended abruptly when the chairman was called away.
- The peace talks have ended inconclusively, with neither side prepared to give way on key points.
- The show ended with a song.
- We thought the play would never end.
- Her workday begins and ends in darkness.
- The peace agreement ended the war.
- The series finally ended on Saturday night.
- A closing reception ends the day.
- In chess, the game ends with checkmate.
- The attack effectively ended hopes for peace in the region.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- abruptly
- suddenly
- prematurely
- …
- in
- with
- end in disaster
- end in tears
- end on a… note
- …
Word OriginOld English ende (noun), endian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch einde (noun), einden (verb) and German Ende (noun), enden (verb).Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Idioms
See end in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee end in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishend your days/life (in something)
- to spend the last part of your life in a particular state or place
- He ended his days in poverty.
Express Yourself Wrapping up a discussionWrapping up a discussionIn a formal meeting or conference, you may have to bring the session to a close. Here are some ways to get people to stop speaking:
- I’m afraid we’re running out of time, so we'll have to make this the final question.
- We've only got a couple of minutes left, so can we summarize what we've agreed?
- I'd like to close the session with a few final remarks…
- We'll have to leave it there, but thank you all very much for your input.
- Well, that's all we have time for today, but we'll meet again on Tuesday.
- I'd like to thank you all for coming and for a very productive meeting.
end in tears
- (British English, informal) if you say that something will end in tears, you are warning somebody that what they are doing will have an unhappy or unpleasant result
- After all that excitement the day was bound to end in tears.
- Needless to say, it ended in tears.
- He warned us it would all end in tears.
end it all | end your life
- to kill yourself
a/the something to end all sths
- used to emphasize how large, important, exciting, etc. you think something is
- The movie has a car chase to end all car chases.
Check pronunciation:
end