Open main menu
Wiktionary

term

See also: Term

Contents

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English terme, from Old French terme, from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end, in Medieval Latin also a time, period, word, covenant, etc.”).

NounEdit

term (plural terms)

  1. Limitation, restriction or regulation. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  2. Any of the binding conditions or promises in a legal contract.
    Be sure to read the terms and conditions before signing.
  3. That which limits the extent of anything; limit; extremity; bound; boundary.
    • Francis Bacon
      Corruption is a reciprocal to generation, and they two are as nature's two terms, or boundaries.
  4. (geometry, archaic) A point, line, or superficies that limits.
    A line is the term of a superficies, and a superficies is the term of a solid.
  5. A word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge.
    "Algorithm" is a term used in computer science.
  6. Relations among people.
    We are on friendly terms with each other.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. […] Next day she […] tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and had perhaps spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
  7. Part of a year, especially one of the three parts of an academic year.
  8. Duration of a set length; period in office of fixed length.
    He was sentenced to a term of six years in prison.
    near-term, mid-term and long-term goals
    the term allowed to a debtor to discharge his debt
  9. (of a patent) The maximum period during which the patent can be maintained into force.
  10. (archaic) A menstrual period.
    • 1660, Samuel Pepys, Diary
      My wife, after the absence of her terms for seven weeks, gave me hopes of her being with child, but on the last day of the year she hath them again.
  11. (mathematics) Any value (variable or constant) or expression separated from another term by a space or an appropriate character, in an overall expression or table.
    All the terms of this sum cancel out.
    One only term is odd in ( 12; 3; 4 ).
  12. (logic) The subject or the predicate of a proposition; one of the three component parts of a syllogism, each one of which is used twice.
    • Sir W. Hamilton
      The subject and predicate of a proposition are, after Aristotle, together called its terms or extremes.
  13. (astrology) An essential dignity in which unequal segments of every astrological sign have internal rulerships which affect the power and integrity of each planet in a natal chart.
  14. (architecture) A quadrangular pillar, adorned on top with the figure of a head, as of a man, woman, or satyr.
  15. (nautical) A piece of carved work placed under each end of the taffrail.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Knowles to this entry?)
HyponymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Derived terms
Related termsEdit
Terms related to term
TranslationsEdit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
See alsoEdit

VerbEdit

term (third-person singular simple present terms, present participle terming, simple past and past participle termed)

  1. To phrase a certain way, especially with an unusual wording.
    • 1867, Charles Sanders Peirce, On a New List of Categories:
      Abstraction or prescision ought to be carefully distinguished from two other modes of mental separation, which may be termed discrimination and dissociation.
    • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
      The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.

AdjectiveEdit

term (not comparable)

  1. (medicine, colloquial) Born or delivered at term.
    term neonate

ReferencesEdit

Etymology 2Edit

Shortening of terminal

NounEdit

term (plural terms)

  1. (computing, informal) terminal (computer program that emulates a physical terminal)

Etymology 3Edit

Short for terminate, termination, terminated employee, etc.

VerbEdit

term (third-person singular simple present terms, present participle terming, simple past and past participle termed)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To terminate one's employment

NounEdit

term (plural terms)

  1. One whose employment has been terminated

Further readingEdit

AlbanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From ter.

NounEdit

term m (indefinite plural terma, definite singular terma, definite plural termat)

  1. foundation, plot of land

Related termsEdit

DutchEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

term m (plural termen, diminutive termpje n)

  1. term; A word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge.
  2. (mathematics) term; One of the addends in a sum

Derived termsEdit

AnagramsEdit

Norwegian BokmålEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term

NounEdit

term m (definite singular termen, indefinite plural termer, definite plural termene)

  1. a term (word or phrase)

ReferencesEdit

Norwegian NynorskEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term

NounEdit

term m (definite singular termen, indefinite plural termar, definite plural termane)

  1. a term (word or phrase)

ReferencesEdit

SwedishEdit

NounEdit

term c

  1. a term[1] (a well-defined word or phrase, in a terminology)
  2. (mathematics) a term[2] (an operand in addition or subtraction)
  3. singular of termer (“thermae, Roman baths”) (a facility for bathing in ancient Rome)

DeclensionEdit

Declension of term 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative term termen termer termerna
Genitive terms termens termers termernas

Related termsEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ term in Rikstermbanken
  2. ^ term in Rikstermbanken
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=term&oldid=50565395"