Meanings
finis1
- Of a book or other work: the end.
He had gone through the work from the title-page to the finis at least forty times, and had just commenced it over again.
1836, [Frederick Marryat], “In which our hero finds out that trigonometry is not only necessary to navigation, but may be required in settling affairs of honour”, in Mr. Midshipman Easy […], volume II, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, page 321 more example
Highly providential was the appearance on the scene of Corny Kelleher when Stephen was blissfully unconscious that, but for that man in the gap turning up at the eleventh hour, the finis might have been that he might have been a candidate for the accident ward, […]
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], pages 570–571
finis2
- pluralplural of fini
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe temporal end; the concluding time
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
finis · noun
- Latinfīnis“end; limit”
- Middle Englishfinis
- Englishfinis
From Middle English finis, from Latin fīnis (“end; limit”). Doublet of fin, fine, and finish.
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with finis
All rhymes →Cite this entry
finis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/finis
“finis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/finis. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “finis,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/finis.
Source: finis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.