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terminal leave

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
translation icon : 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.

  • Not collecting your terminal leave pay... ...dropping all our friends back East.

  • I'm willing to put up every dime of my terminal leave pay-- a thousand bucks.

  • 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

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.