Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
terminality

terminality

9.9
The final stage of an illness that is likely to cause death
  • noun
  • /ˌtɜːrmɪˈnælɪti/
  • Specialized
: terminalidad
  • After being diagnosed with cancer, she struggled to accept the terminality of her condition.

Examples

  • Coming to terms with the terminality of her illness helped her focus on making the most of her remaining time.

  • For some study participants, accepting the terminality of one's life meant giving up faith in God's power to heal (Farnon & Hoffman, 1997; Jackson et al., 2000; Jenkins et al., 2005).

    Academic text (2008)

  • The plainspokenly diagrammatic mode of trace, drawing, and monochrome photograph encouraged a clear tracking of stratigraphies and formal genealogies back to sources and forward to terminalities.

    Academic text (1994)

  • The doctors had to discuss the terminality of his illness with his family during the treatment planning.

Synonyms

mortality
vsterminality
47 5.7

The fact that living things must die

refers to a specific illness stage expected to lead to death
lethality
vsterminality
6 7.5

Ability to cause death

means a disease state expected to end a life rather than cause death

Surface Forms

terminality singular
terminalities plural

Morphology

terminality = terminal (transparent) = terminal + ity

Formed by the productive suffix '-ity' on the adjective 'terminal' meaning 'the state or quality of being terminal', which is directly inferable.

Etymology

The word terminality comes from the Latin word terminus, which means 'end' or 'boundary', and it shares the same root as terminal and terminate. So terminality is the state of being at the 'end', which is why it is used for illnesses that are expected to lead to death.