term

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tûm, IPA^(key): /tɜːm/
• (US) enPR: tûrm, IPA^(key): /tɝm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)m

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 and termon. Old English had termen, from the same source.

term (plural terms)

1. That which limits the extent of anything; limit, extremity, bound, boundary, terminus.
   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     Corruption is a reciprocal to generation, and they two are as nature's two terms, or boundaries.

   • 1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 268:

     At the decline of day,
     Winding above the mountain’s snowy term,
     New banners shone: […]

   "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, a limited timespan.

   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. Specifically, the conditions in a legal contract that specify the price and also how and when payment must be made.

   Q: What are your company's terms? A: Net thirty, cash or check. [This answer means that the net total must be paid within 30 days; see Net D.]

   The latest models are available now, on the lowest terms you'll find anywhere, guaranteed.

   • 1793 May 17, John Constable and James Piper, advertisement for a packet-boat between Chestertown and Baltimore, Chestertown, Maryland, File:Packet_Schooner.jpg:

     The Cabin is large and commodious, well calculated for the Accommodation of Paſengers. Merchandiſe, Produce, &c. carried on the loweſt Terms.

5. (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.

6. A word or phrase (e.g., noun phrase, verb phrase, open compound), especially one from a specialised area of knowledge; a name for a concept.

   "Algorithm" is a term used in computer science.

   The noun phrase "red blood cell", the acronym "RBC", and the word "erythrocyte" are synonymous terms.

7. Relations among people.

   We are on friendly terms with each other.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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.

8. Part of a year, especially one of the divisions of an academic year.
9. Duration of officeholding, or its limit; 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

   • 2023 October 22, Ruth Michaelson, quoting Ehud Barak, “Netanyahu told to ‘quit now’ as ex-leaders pin blame on dysfunctional government”, in The Observer‎, →ISSN:

     “I don’t believe that the people trust Netanyahu to lead when he is under the burden of such a devastating event that just happened under his term,” he told the Observer.

   1. The time during which legal courts are open.
   2. Certain days on which rent is paid.
10. With respect to a pregnancy, the period during which birth usually happens (approximately 40 weeks from conception).

    at term

    preterm

    postterm

11. (of a patent) The maximum period during which the patent can be maintained into force.
12. (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.

13. (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 ).

14. (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.
    • 1859–1860, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

      The subject and predicate of a proposition are, after Aristotle, together called its terms or extremes.

15. (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.
16. (art) A statue of the upper body, sometimes without the arms, ending in a pillar or pedestal. [from 17th c.]
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

      The pillers that haue bolſtered vp thoſe tearmes,
      Are falne in cluſters at my conquering feet.

    • 1773, Joshua Reynolds, edited by John Ingamells and John Edgcumbe, The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale, published 2000, page 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.

17. (nautical) A piece of carved work placed under each end of the taffrail.

• blanket term
• collective term
• umbrella term
• (part of a year): trimester, semester, quarter

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

1. (transitive) 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.

• describe as, designate, dub, name, refer to; see also Thesaurus:denominate

term (not comparable)

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

   term neonate

• term on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Clipping of terminal.

term (plural terms)

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

Short for terminate, termination, terminated employee, etc.

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

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

• axe, fire, sack; see also Thesaurus:lay off

term (plural terms)

1. One whose employment has been terminated

• “term”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “term”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

From ter.

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

1. foundation, plot of land

• ter

From English term.

term

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) term (word or phrase)
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese) term (timespan)

From clipping of English terminate.

term

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to terminate
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang, passive voice) to have one's study be terminated

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrm

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

• termsgewijs

• → Indonesian: term

• remt

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

• IPA^(key): [ˈtɛr(ə̆)m]
• Hyphenation: tèrm

tèrm (plural term-term, first-person possessive termku, second-person possessive termmu, third-person possessive termnya)

1. term:
   1. a word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge.

      Synonym: istilah

   2. (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.
   3. duration of a set length; period in office of fixed length.

      Synonyms: masa, momen, saat

   4. part of a year, especially one of the three parts of an academic year.

• terma (Standard Malay)

• “term” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term.

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

1. a term (word or phrase)

• “term” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term.

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

1. a term (word or phrase)

• “term” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• Audio

  (file)

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)

• fackterm
• termbank
• terminologi