terminate with extreme prejudice

verb

To murder; to assassinate.

“The government ordered the spies to be terminated with extreme prejudice: they did not want them to expose what they knew in a public trial.”

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Meanings

verbterminate with extreme prejudice (third-person singular simple present terminates with extreme prejudice, present participle terminating with extreme prejudice, simple past and past participle terminated with extreme prejudice)

present singular third person terminates with extreme prejudice · participle present terminating with extreme prejudice · participle past terminated with extreme prejudice · past terminated with extreme prejudice

  1. USeuphemisticTo murder; to assassinate.

    The government ordered the spies to be terminated with extreme prejudice: they did not want them to expose what they knew in a public trial.

    2 more examples

    ...suggested that he either be isolated or ‘terminated with extreme prejudice.’ This term is said to be an intelligence euphemism for execution.

    1969 August 14, Terence Smith, “Details of Green Beret Case Are Reported in Saigon”, in The New York Times

    Colonel Lucas: ... When you find the Colonel, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and terminate the Colonel's command. Willard: Terminate the Colonel? ... Civilian: Terminate with extreme prejudice.

    1979, Apocalypse Now

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
kill

Origin

First appears c. 1969. Derives from US military intelligence and CIA documents, in news coverage of the Green Beret Case, and further popularized in the movie Apocalypse Now (1979). A play on the term terminate with prejudice when an employee’s employment is terminated, meaning will not rehire employee to same position in future (i.e., prejudiced against rehiring), hence terminate definitively, i.e., kill.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

terminate with extreme prejudice. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terminate%20with%20extreme%20prejudice

MLA

“terminate with extreme prejudice.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terminate%20with%20extreme%20prejudice. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “terminate with extreme prejudice,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terminate%20with%20extreme%20prejudice.

Source: terminate with extreme prejudice on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.