Difference between Finish and End

Key difference: The words finish and end means the same, but differs slightly in their main contexts. The word ‘finish’ refers to extend where it limits and get completed, while the word ‘end’ refers to termination or stop of something.

Finish and end are the words which refer to the same meaning; both words means to the completion of any event or something. Rarely they differ in their meanings, and also are co related to one-another but their use differs in the context. The below article will elaborate their explanations.

Finish The word ‘finish’ refers to bring any task or work into its completion state. Here, the completion refers to the overall completion of only that particular state, and not the entire task or work. The verb ‘to finish’ means to end up doing any relevant task or work.

For example:

Workers were straining to finish the job.

Here, the example reflects the worker’s attempt to complete the given task, so it dose not mean their entire job, only a part of it.

According to Merriam Webster, the word finish means:

to reach the end of (something)
to stop doing (something) because it is completed
to be done with building or creating (something)
to cause something to end or stop
to reach the end of something

End

The word’ end’ refers to termination or stop to any work or task. It means the final stage or the concluding stage of something. After this end stage, the next stage would be the new stage and not the previous stage. This means, the word reflects the expiration or extreme phase of that task.

For example:

Revolution against injustice was the end of sufferings.

Here, it means there would be no more sufferings after the declared revolution.

According to Merriam Webster, the word end means:

a point that marks the limit of something
the point at which something no longer continues to happen or exist
the last part of a story, movie, song, etc.
the part at the edge or limit of an area

Both, finish and end are synonyms of each other, but, their meaning is different. Finish relates to end of any stage or part of that task, while end related to the stop or entire termination of that work. More briefly, finish co-relates to completion, but end co-relates to termination.

Comparison between Finish and End:

	Finish	End
Definition according to Merriam Webster	something that completes or perfects	to reach a specified ultimate rank or situation
Origin	Middle English: from Old French ‘feniss’	Old English ‘ende’ (noun), ‘endian’ (verb), of Germanic origin
Forms	verb and noun	verb and noun
Synonyms	complete, consummate, finalize, perfect, polish, get through	arrest, arrestment, cease, cessation, check, close, closedown, closure, conclusion, cutoff, discontinuance, discontinuation, ending, expiration, finish, halt, lapse, offset, shutdown, shutoff, stay, stop, stoppage, surcease, termination
Antonyms	begin, commence, inaugurate, open, start	continuance, continuation, extension, persistence, prolongation
Example	The last two runs to finish from one ball.	This is the end of dependency.