term

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See also: Term

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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.

Noun[edit]

term (plural terms)

  1. 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."
  2. 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.
  3. Any of the binding conditions or promises in a legal contract.
    Be sure to read the terms and conditions before signing.
  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
    1. The time during which legal courts are open.
    2. Certain days on which rent is paid.
  9. With respect to a pregnancy, the period during which birth usually happens (approximately 40 weeks from conception).
    at term, preterm, postterm
  10. (of a patent) The maximum period during which the patent can be maintained into force.
  11. (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.
  12. (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 ).
  13. (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.
  14. (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.
  15. (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.
  16. (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]

Hyponyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

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 also[edit]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. 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.

Synonyms[edit]

Adjective[edit]

term (not comparable)

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

References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Clipping of terminal.

Noun[edit]

term (plural terms)

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

Etymology 3[edit]

Short for terminate, termination, terminated employee, etc.

Verb[edit]

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

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

Synonyms[edit]

Noun[edit]

term (plural terms)

  1. One whose employment has been terminated

Further reading[edit]

Albanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From ter.

Noun[edit]

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

  1. foundation, plot of land

Related terms[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

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 terms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term

Noun[edit]

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

  1. a term (word or phrase)

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term

Noun[edit]

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

  1. a term (word or phrase)

References[edit]

Swedish[edit]

Noun[edit]

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)

Declension[edit]

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

Related terms[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ term in Rikstermbanken
  2. ^ term in Rikstermbanken
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