ended

ended — verb

1. the past form of 'end' — used when a situation, event, or process that was happe

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveA2
Definition

the past form of 'end' — used when a situation, event, or process that was happening reached a stopping point, either naturally or because someone made it stop

Example

The concert ended at eleven o'clock, so we caught the last train home.

intransitive: [event] ended + at [time]

Christopher ended his presentation with a short video of the new product.

transitive: [person] ended [something] + with [object]

Common collocations
  • ended with
  • ended by
  • ended at
  • finally ended
  • ended early
  • ended abruptly
  • eventually ended
Synonyms
  • finished

    more natural for completing a task; implies reaching the last stage

  • concluded

    more formal; typical for meetings, ceremonies, or planned events

  • stopped

    more sudden; does not suggest the event reached a natural finish

Antonyms
  • started

    opposite — the moment something began

  • began

    opposite — the point at which something came into being

Grammar Patterns

[event] ended + at/on/in [time]

[person] ended [something] + with/by [method]

Usage Note

Commonly used with time expressions (at, on, in) or manner expressions (with, by). Both intransitive use — [event] ended — and transitive use — [someone] ended [something] — are equally frequent in everyday English.

Common Mistakes

I ended reading the book last night.
I finished reading the book last night.
'ended' means stopped or ceased; 'finished' is the natural choice when completing a task.
The meeting ended by the manager.
The manager ended the meeting.
in transitive use, the person who causes the end is the subject, not preceded by 'by'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four words describe something that is no longer happening, but they differ in how and why it stops. 'Ended' is the most neutral and widely applicable — a film ends, a war ends, a phone call ends. 'Finished' focuses on completing a task or reaching the last part of a process ('She finished the report just before the deadline'). 'Concluded' is more formal and often used for planned or structured events ('The conference concluded with a closing speech'). 'Stopped' is more sudden and can be temporary ('The bus stopped at the traffic light'), while 'ceased' is the most formal and implies a permanent stop ('The company ceased operations in 2023').

finished ↗concludedstopped ↗ceased

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • come to an end
  • bring to an end

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-GermanicOld EnglishEnglish

'Ended' is the past-tense form of 'end', which comes from Old English 'endian' (to bring to a close, finish). This Germanic verb traces back further to Proto-Germanic '*andijōną', built from the noun '*andijaz' (end, boundary). The ultimate root is the Proto-Indo-European '*h₂entí' (end, boundary). The verb has been used to describe the stopping or finishing of events, periods, and situations since before the 12th century.