term
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tûm, IPA(key): /tɜːm/
- (US) enPR: tûrm, IPA(key): /tɝm/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(r)m
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English terme, borrowed from Old French terme, from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end; in Medieval Latin, also a time, period, word, covenant, etc.”).
Doublet of terminus. Old English had termen, from the same source.
NounEdit
term (plural terms)
- That which limits the extent of anything; limit, extremity, bound, boundary.
- 1631, [Francis Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] VVilliam Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:
- Corruption is a reciprocal to generation, and they two are as nature's two terms, or boundaries.
- "Alright, look...we can spend the holidays with your parents, but this time it will be on my terms."
- A chronological limitation or restriction.
- The term of a lease agreement is the period of time during which the lease is effective, and may be fixed, periodic, or of indefinite duration.
- Any of the binding conditions or promises in a legal contract.
- Be sure to read the terms and conditions before signing.
- (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.
- A word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge.
- "Algorithm" is a term used in computer science.
- 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.
- Part of a year, especially one of the three parts of an academic year.
- Duration of a set length; period in office of fixed length.
- near-term, mid-term and long-term goals
- the term allowed to a debtor to discharge his debt
- With respect to a pregnancy, the period during which birth usually happens (approximately 40 weeks from conception).
- (of a patent) The maximum period during which the patent can be maintained into force.
- (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.
- 1660, Samuel Pepys, Diary
- (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 ).
- (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.
- 1858-1860, Sir William Hamilton, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic
- The subject and predicate of a proposition are, after Aristotle, together called its terms or extremes.
- 1858-1860, Sir William Hamilton, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic
- (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.
- (art) A statue of the upper body, sometimes without the arms, ending in a pillar or pedestal. [from 17th c.]
- 1773, Joshua Reynolds, in John Ingamells, John Edgcumbe (eds.), The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale 2000, p. 42:
- You have been already informed, I have no doubt, of the subject which we have chosen: the adorning a Term of Hymen with festoons of flowers.
- 1773, Joshua Reynolds, in John Ingamells, John Edgcumbe (eds.), The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale 2000, p. 42:
- (nautical) A piece of carved work placed under each end of the taffrail.
- The Cabin is large and commodious, well calculated for the Accommodation of Paſengers. Merchandiſe, Produce, &c. carried on the loweſt Terms.[1]
HyponymsEdit
- blanket term
- collective term
- umbrella term
- (part of a year): trimester, semester, quarter
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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- 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.
See alsoEdit
VerbEdit
term (third-person singular simple present terms, present participle terming, simple past and past participle termed)
- To phrase a certain way; to name or call.
- 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.
SynonymsEdit
- describe as, designate, dub, name, refer to; see also Thesaurus:denominate
AdjectiveEdit
term (not comparable)
- (medicine, colloquial) Born or delivered at term.
- term neonate
ReferencesEdit
Etymology 2Edit
NounEdit
term (plural terms)
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)
- (transitive, intransitive) To terminate one's employment
SynonymsEdit
- axe, fire, sack; see also Thesaurus:lay off
NounEdit
term (plural terms)
- One whose employment has been terminated
Further readingEdit
- term in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- term in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
AlbanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From ter.
NounEdit
term m (indefinite plural terma, definite singular terma, definite plural termat)
Related termsEdit
DutchEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
term m (plural termen, diminutive termpje n)
- term; A word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge.
- (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)
- a term (word or phrase)
ReferencesEdit
- “term” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian NynorskEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term
NounEdit
term m (definite singular termen, indefinite plural termar, definite plural termane)
- a term (word or phrase)
ReferencesEdit
- “term” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
SwedishEdit
NounEdit
term c
- a term[1] (a well-defined word or phrase, in a terminology)
- (mathematics) a term[2] (an operand in addition or subtraction)
- 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
- ^ term in Rikstermbanken
- ^ term in Rikstermbanken