ENDLING Definition & Meaning

endling

[end ling]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

an individual living thing that is the last survivor of its species or subspecies and whose death consequently means the extinction of that species or subspecies.
The endling of the once plentiful passenger pigeons was Martha, who died in a zoo in 1914.
a person who is the last living member of a family line and whose death consequently means the end of that lineage.
Sadly, Kenneth, childless and himself an only child, is soon to leave this world, alone and an endling.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of endling¹

First recorded in 1996 in the correspondence in the British journal Nature; end ¹ ( def. ) + -ling ¹ ( def. )

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

If “Endling” has a main character, it’s the woman whose mission is to save the nation’s endangered snails; another key player is a lone wolf terrorist who hopes her political orchestrations will spark a family reunion.

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Informed by deep personal loss, her startling metafictional debut novel, “Endling,” is a forceful mashup of storytelling modes that call attention to its interplay of reality and fiction — a Ukrainian tragicomedy of errors colliding with social commentary about the Russian invasion.

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“Endling” throws three strangers involved with Ukraine’s for-profit international matchmaking market together for a quixotic kidnapping caper in a nation on the brink of war.

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Context is crucial in “Endling.”

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And it’s from Yeva’s quest that the book derives its title: An “endling” is the last individual in a dying species, the kind she is dedicated to protecting.

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end line endlong

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