Word.ws English Dictionary

terminus ad quem

terminus ad quem noun: the latest possible date of a nonpunctual event (period, era, etc.).

Noun

terminus ad quem (plural termini ad quos)

  1. The latest possible date of a nonpunctual event (period, era, etc.)
  2. An objective or goal.
    • What I do regret is the non-intelligent and almost superstitious way in which baptism is still regarded by many of our people. They think of it too much as a mere terminus ad quem which should call forth their energies up till the time it is obtained, and then leaves them waiting to see what sort...1915, William Campbell, Sketches from Formosa, Marshall Brothers Limited, page 31

Forms of terminus ad quem

pluraltermini ad quos

Origin of terminus ad quem

From Latin terminus (“limit”) + ad (“up to”) + quem (“which”), the accusative of quī (“what”). Literally meaning “the limit up until which”.

Questions about terminus ad quem

What does terminus ad quem mean?
Terminus ad quem means the latest possible date of a nonpunctual event (period, era, etc.).
What part of speech is terminus ad quem?
Terminus ad quem is a noun.
What is the plural of terminus ad quem?
The plural of terminus ad quem is termini ad quos.

Words near terminus ad quem in the dictionary

  1. terminomics
  2. terminotics
  3. Terminous
  4. terminus
  5. terminus a quo
  6. terminus ad quem
  7. terminus ante quem
  8. terminus post quem
  9. terminus technicus
  10. terminuses
  11. termital

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: terminus ad quem (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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