Alternatives

Alternatives is a recurring post in which I give synonyms for an over used word. Click on the tab above for a "complete" list of over used words.

Today's word is:

Quick, what's the first synonym for the word end that comes to mind. No thinking about it. I came up with stop.  

"End", however, can be used in a number of different ways. I was a bit surprised.

For example:

stopping a process: cease, cutoff 

a real or imagined point beyond which you cannot go: boundary, cap, ceiling

an unused or unwanted item, usually small and of little value: scrap, oddment, refuse

something one hopes to accomplish: aim, ambition, dream

the last and usually sharp or tapering part of something long and narrow: apex, cusp, tip

the last part of a process or action: close, conclusion, finale

the line or narrow space that marks the outer limit of something: border, edge, rim, fringe

the permanent stopping of vital bodily functions: death, exit, fate

something belonging to, due to, or contributed by an individual member of a group: allotment, piece

Depending on how you use it, this list may come in handy for finding another way to say the same thing.

abeyance, aftermath, aim, allotment, allowance, ambition, annihilation, annul, anticlimax, apex, area, arrest/arrestment, aspect, aspiration, assassination, ax

balance, bar, barrier, border, borderline, bound, boundary, bourne/bourn, break/break off, brim, bring to a close, butt end

call off, cancel, cap/capper, cap stone, casualty, cease, ceiling, cessation, check, chip, climax, circumference, close/closing, closedown, closure, coda, come to a head, come to an end, compass, conclude/conclusion, confine/confines, consummation, copestone, coup de grace, crescendo, crown, culminate/culmination, curtail, curtains, cusp, cut, cutoff

deadline, death, decease, demise, denouement, design, desire, destination, destruction, discontinue/discontinuation, dissolution, dissolve , doom, downfall, draw to a close, dream, dying

edge/edging, endgame, epilogue, execution, expiration, exit, expiration, expiry, extent, extermination, extinction, extremity

fag end, fatality, fate, fence, field, finale, finis, finish, flake, fragment, frame, fringe, furthest point, foot

goal, grail, grand finale, grave, great devide

halt, head, hedge, heel, hem, holy grail, high-water mark, home stretch, hope

idea/ideal, intent/intention, interruption

kill/killing

lapse, layoff, leavings, leftover, letup, limit/limitation, line

margin, mark, martyrdom, massacre, meaning, meridian, mind, mop-up, moratorium, motive

neb, nib, nirvana

object/objective, oddment, odds and ends, offset, outside,

part, passage, passing, pause, peak, piece, perimeter, periphery, peroration, phase out, pickings, piece, pike, pinnacle, plan, plot, point, portion, postscript, pretension, project, prong, province, purpose, put an end,

quietus, quota

refuse, remain/remainder/remains, remnant, residual/residue, resolution, rest, restraint, ribbons, rim, ruin, ruination

scheme, scraps/scrapings, section, segment, self-destruction, self-murder, self-slaughter, shank, share, shred, shutoff, side, skirt/skirting, slaughter, sleep, slice, sliver, spire, splinter, standstill, stay, stop/stoppage, stub, stump, suicide, summit, surcease, suspension

tag end, tail, tail end, take, target, tatter, term, terminal/terminate/termination/terminus, thing, tip, top, tip-top,

ultimate

verge, vestige

wall, Waterloo, windup, wish, wrap-up

zenith

This was a  radical song when it came out in 1967. I was 17. Viet Nam was raging. Riots and protests were happening across the U. S. and tensions were high around the world.

Jim Morrison said of this song: "Everytime I hear that song, it means something else to me. It started out as a simple good-bye song... Probably just to a girl, but I see how it could be a goodbye to a kind of childhood. I really don't know. I think it's sufficiently complex and universal in its imagery that it could be almost anything you want it to be."

On the flip side... so as not to leave you broken and depressed... that same year The Beatles gave us, All You Need is Love.


My generation was schizophrenic. :)
Got a favorite alternative for the word end? Are you a Door and/or Beatles fan?