end·ing / ˈending/ • n. an end or final part of something, esp. a period of time, an activity, or a book or movie: the ending of the Cold War. ∎  the furthest part or point of something: a nerve ending. ∎  the final part of a word, constituting a grammatical inflection or formative element.

ENDING. A grammatical or derivational element at the end of a WORD: -s added to horse to form the plural horses, added to sell to form the third-person singular sells; -ity added to central to form centrality. Elements like -s are often referred to as inflectional endings. Elements like -ity may be referred to as derivational endings, but are more commonly known as suffixes. Inflectional endings may or may not be classed as suffixes. See CLASSICAL ENDING, INFLECTION.