terminal leave

1 7.0

A final time away from duty taken before leaving the military while still officially in service

noun
/ˈtɜrnəməl liːv/

Formal

: licencia terminal

After months of service, he was finally able to take his terminal leave before returning to civilian life.

That next three months over the summer was my terminal leave.

Examples

I'll spend my terminal leave looking for a place big enough for Carol and the kids.

Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
Not collecting your terminal leave pay... ...dropping all our friends back East.

Act of Violence (1949)
I'm willing to put up every dime of my terminal leave pay-- a thousand bucks.

Easy Come, Easy Go (1967)
She planned a family trip to Hawaii during her terminal leave from the military.
On his terminal leave, he took time to relax and spend time with friends before his discharge.

Synonyms

leave

vsterminal leave

Formal

443 3.8

Official permission to be absent from work or duty

is specifically taken at the end of service prior to discharge

leave of absence

vsterminal leave

Formal

38 3.9

A period when someone is officially allowed to be away from work or school

is taken at the end of service before discharge

Surface Forms

terminal leave singular

terminal leaves plural

Morphology

terminal + leave

Both constituents directly contribute to the meaning: 'terminal' = final/end and 'leave' = authorized absence, so together they compose the notion of a final period of authorized absence before discharge. This is a straightforward, compositional military term and follows common cross‑linguistic patterns of combining 'final' + 'leave', so a B1 learner who knows the two words should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Terminal leave comes from the military: terminal means 'at the end' and leave means time off. It is the final paid time off a service member takes while still officially in the service before being 'discharged', so the phrase means the last leave before leaving the service.