conclusion
Pluralconclusions
- 1The end, finish, or final part of something.
The conclusion of the symphony brought the audience to their feet.
She added a brief summary at the conclusion of her report.
Similarend, ending, close, finish, finale
Oppositebeginning, start (entry), opening, outset
Note
Every sense of the word grows from an image of locking something shut. Latin conclūdere joins con- to claudō, from a root meaning "key, hook, nail". Here the closing is an ending in time, as when trumpets announce "the conclusion of the contest" in William H. Prescott's History of the Reign of Philip (1855). It typically takes of plus a named event: the conclusion of a contest, a symphony, a report.
- 2A decision that someone arrives at after thinking something through carefully.
The committee reached the conclusion that more testing was needed.
I came to the conclusion that honesty was the only way forward.
Similardecision, judgment, verdict, determination, finding
Note
The everyday mental sense usually comes inside a fixed frame: one comes to or reaches the conclusion that, followed by a full clause. In the plural it sounds more scholarly, as in Rudolf M. Schuster's "sound conclusions" about herbarium specimens. Shakespeare's "the conclusion is, she shall be thine" shows an older conversational use, close to "the upshot is", that introduces the decision itself.
- 3The final result that a process or action leads to.
The merger was the natural conclusion of months of negotiation.
Years of research reached a successful conclusion with the new vaccine.
Similaroutcome, result, culmination, upshot, consequence
- 4In logic, the statement that necessarily follows from the premises of an argument or syllogism.
The argument's premises were true, but the conclusion still did not follow.
From those two statements, only one conclusion can logically be drawn.
Similarinference, deduction, consequence
Oppositepremise
Note
In logic, a conclusion is defined by its relation to the premises, not by how confidently anyone holds it. Joseph Addison, writing in 1716, could have a disputant grant "both the major and minor" yet deny the conclusion, which is the move of someone who says the inference is faulty. That sets it apart from the everyday "decision" meaning. A conclusion in logic either follows from its premises or it does not.
- 5In law, the formal closing portion of a pleading, such as the set ending of an indictment.
The clerk recited the conclusion of the indictment, ending with the customary 'against the peace.'
A proper conclusion was required before the pleading could be filed.
Note
In legal pleading, the conclusion is a fixed formula rather than a summing-up. A criminal indictment, for instance, traditionally closes with set words such as "against the peace". The conclusion here is the required wording a document must end with, not the argument reaching its point. Don't confuse it with a lawyer's closing argument or with the court's findings.
- 6In law, an estoppel or bar that holds a person to a position they have already taken.
The prior judgment operated as a conclusion, barring the defendant from relitigating the boundary.
Counsel argued that the deed created a conclusion binding both parties to the stated terms.
Note
Here the old image of shutting something becomes a legal one: a person is shut in to a position and cannot argue their way out. In William Cruise's Digest of the Laws of England Respecting Real Property (1818), a fine "operated at first by conclusion", meaning it worked as a bar rather than transferring any interest. That phrase, by conclusion, is the typical construction, and estoppel is its modern technical equivalent.
- 7An arrangement or settlement; the finalizing of something such as an agreement.
The conclusion of the treaty ended decades of hostility.
Negotiators worked late into the night to secure the conclusion of the contract.
Similarcompletion, signing, finalization, settlement, execution
Less common meaning
- 8An experiment or trial, or something from which an inference may be drawn.
The alchemist devised a conclusion to test whether the metal could be purified.
[W]ee practiſe likewise all Concluſions of Grafting, and Inoculating, as well of VVilde-Trees, as Fruit-Trees, which produceth many Effects.
1627, Francis [Bacon], “New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished.”Note
An early modern meaning that modern readers easily misread. When Francis Bacon's New Atlantis (1627) speaks of practicing "all Conclusions of Grafting, and Inoculating", it means trials and experiments, not inferences or endings. Treat it as obsolete. Recognize it in older texts and gloss it as "experiment" when quoting, but don't use it in modern prose, where readers will take it as a result.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English, borrowed via Old French conclusion from Latin conclūsiō, formed from the past participle stem of conclūdere ("to conclude"), built from con- plus claudō and ultimately going back to Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- ("key, hook, nail").