Meanings
plural tail ends · alternative tail-end · alternative tailend
- figurativelyThe last part of a period of time, event, or situation; the concluding or final part.
At the tail end of summer.
4 more examples
The tail end of a lecture.
The tail end of a conversation.
An equipment malfunction has woken him up 90 years early, and he’s now doomed to live out the rest of his life surrounded by sushi bars and infinity pools, but not a single human companion.(The other 5,000 passengers on board will wake up at the tail end of the ship’s 120-year voyage to Earth colony Homestead-II.)
2016 December 20, Katie Rife, “Passengers strains the considerable charms of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2018We meet at the tail-end of the Edinburgh TV Festival, normally a hum of desperate pitching and angry gossiping among media executives.
2025 September 13, Daniel Thomas, “Lunch with the FT: Shonda Rhimes”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe hindmost part of anything (a person, animal, or object), the rear end; the butt, buttocks; hindquarters, rump.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe fleshy part of the human body that you sit on
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishtaylende
- Englishtail end
From Middle English taylende; equivalent to tail + end.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
tail end. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tail%20end
“tail end.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tail%20end. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tail end,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tail%20end.
Source: tail end on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.