pe·ri·od (pîr  - d)n.1. An interval of time characterized by the occurrence of a certain condition, event, or phenomenon: a period of economic prosperity. 2. An interval of time characterized by the prevalence of a specified culture, ideology, or technology: artifacts of the pre-Columbian period. 3. An interval regarded as a distinct evolutionary or developmental phase: Picasso's early career is divided into his blue period and rose period. 4. Geology A unit of time, longer than an epoch and shorter than an era. 5. Any of various arbitrary units of time, especially: a. Any of the divisions of the academic day. b. Sports & Games A division of the playing time of a game. 6. Physics & Astronomy The time interval between two successive occurrences of a recurrent event or phases of an event; a cycle: the period of a satellite's orbit. 7. An instance or occurrence of menstruation. 8. A point or portion of time at which something is ended; a completion or conclusion. 9. The full pause at the end of a spoken sentence. 10. A punctuation mark ( . ) indicating a full stop, placed at the end of declarative sentences and other statements thought to be complete, and after many abbreviations. 11. A sentence of several carefully balanced clauses in formal writing. 12. a. A metrical unit of quantitative verse consisting of two or more cola. b. An analogous unit or division of classical Greek or Latin prose. 13. Music A group of two or more phrases within a composition, often made up of 8 or 16 measures and terminating with a cadence. 14. Mathematics a. The least interval in the range of the independent variable of a periodic function of a real variable in which all possible values of the dependent variable are assumed. b. A group of digits separated by commas in a written number. c. The number of digits that repeat in a repeating decimal. For example, 1/7 = 0.142857142857 . . . has a six-digit period. 15. Chemistry A sequence of elements arranged in order of increasing atomic number and forming one of the horizontal rows in the periodic table. adj. Of, belonging to, or representing a certain historical age or time: a period piece; period furniture. interj. Used to emphasize finality, as when expressing a decision or an opinion: You're not going to the movies tonight, period!
[Middle English periode, from Old French, from Medieval Latin periodus, from Latin perihodos, rhetorical period, from Greek periodos, circuit : peri-, peri- + hodos, way.] Synonyms: period, epoch, era, age, term
These nouns refer to a portion or length of time. Period is the most general: a short waiting period; a difficult period of my life; the Romantic period in music.
Epoch refers to a period regarded as being remarkable or memorable: "We enter on an epoch of constitutional retrogression" John R. Green.
An era is a period of time notable because of new or different aspects or events: "How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book" Henry David Thoreau.
An age is usually a period marked by a distinctive characteristic: the age of Newton; the Iron Age.
A term is a period of time to which limits have been set: Senators are elected for a term of six years. Word History: Many may have wondered why the word period has the sense "punctuation mark ( . )" as well as several senses having to do with time. The answer to this question lies in one of the senses of the Greek word periodos from which our word is descended. Periodos, made up of peri-, "around," and hodos, "way," in addition to meaning such things as "going around, way around, going around in a circle, circuit," and with regard to time, "cycle or period of time," referred in rhetoric to "a group of words organically related in grammar and sense." The Greek word was adopted into Latin as perihodos, which in the Medieval Latin period acquired a new sense related to its use in rhetoric, "a punctuation mark used at the end of a rhetorical period." This sense is not recorded in English until 1609, but the word had already entered English as a borrowing from Old French in the sense "a cycle of recurrence of a disease," first being recorded in a work written around 1425. |
period Noun 1. a portion of time: six inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period 2. a portion of time specified in some way: the President's first period of office 3. an occurrence of menstruation 4. Geol a unit of geological time during which a system of rocks is formed: the Jurassic period 5. a division of time at school, college, or university when a particular subject is taught 6. Physics, maths the time taken to complete one cycle of a regularly recurring phenomenon 7. Chem one of the horizontal rows of elements in the periodic table Adjective dating from or in the style of an earlier time: a performance on period instruments [Greek periodos circuit]
period (p r-d)1. A division of geologic time that is longer than an epoch and shorter than an era. 2. The duration of one cycle of a regularly recurring action or event. See also cyclefrequency 3. An occurrence of menstruation. 4. In the Periodic Table, any of the seven horizontal rows that contain elements arranged in order of increasing atomic number. All the elements in a particular period have the same number of electron shells in their atoms, equal to the number of the period. Thus, atoms of nickel, copper, and zinc, in period four, each have four electron shells. See Periodic Table. |
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms | Noun | 1. |  period - an amount of time; "a time period of 30 years"; "hastened the period of time of his recovery"; "Picasso's blue period"time frame - a time period during which something occurs or is expected to occur; "an agreement can be reached in a reasonably short time frame" hours - an indefinite period of time; "they talked for hours" downtime - a period of time when something (as a machine or factory) is not operating (especially as a result of malfunctions) uptime - a period of time when something (as a machine or factory) is functioning and available for use work time - a time period when you are required to work time off - a time period when you are not required to work; "he requested time off to attend his grandmother's funeral" bout - a period of illness; "a bout of fever"; "a bout of depression" hospitalization - a period of time when you are confined to a hospital; "now they try to shorten the patient's hospitalization" travel time - a period of time spent traveling; "workers were not paid for their travel time between home and factory" times - a more or less definite period of time now or previously present; "it was a sign of the times" time - an indefinite period (usually marked by specific attributes or activities); "he waited a long time"; "the time of year for planting"; "he was a great actor in his time" elapsed time - the time that elapses while some event is occurring field day - a time of unusual pleasure and success life-time, lifespan, lifetime, life - the period during which something is functional (as between birth and death); "the battery had a short life"; "he lived a long and happy life" life - the period between birth and the present time; "I have known him all his life" life - the period from the present until death; "he appointed himself emperor for life" occupation - the period of time during which a place or position or nation is occupied; "during the German occupation of Paris" past - a earlier period in someone's life (especially one that they have reason to keep secret); "reporters dug into the candidate's past" shelf life - the length of time a packaged food or drug will last without deteriorating puerperium - time period following childbirth when the mother's uterus shrinks and the other functional and anatomic changes of pregnancy are resolved; "a perinatologist cared for her during the puerperium" lactation - the period following birth during which milk is secreted; "lactation normally continues until weaning" time of life - a period of time during which a person is normally in a particular life state festival - a day or period of time set aside for feasting and celebration daylight, daytime, day - the time after sunrise and before sunset while it is light outside; "the dawn turned night into day"; "it is easier to make the repairs in the daytime" night, nighttime, dark - the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside night - the time between sunset and midnight; "he watched television every night" night - the period spent sleeping; "I had a restless night" night - a period of ignorance or backwardness or gloom eve - the period immediately before something; "on the eve of the French Revolution" evening - the early part of night (from dinner until bedtime) spent in a special way; "an evening at the opera" hebdomad, week - any period of seven consecutive days; "it rained for a week" fortnight, two weeks - a period of fourteen consecutive days; "most major tennis tournaments last a fortnight" | | 2. | period - the interval taken to complete one cycle of a regularly repeating phenomenonorbit period - the time it takes to complete one full orbit around a celestial body; "the orbit period depends on the altitude of the satellite" | | 3. | period - (ice hockey) one of three divisions into which play is divided in hockey gameshockey game, ice hockey, hockey - a game played on an ice rink by two opposing teams of six skaters each who try to knock a flat round puck into the opponents' goal with angled sticks division, section, part - one of the portions into which something is regarded as divided and which together constitute a whole; "the written part of the exam"; "the finance section of the company"; "the BBC's engineering division" | | 4. | period - a unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed; "ganoid fishes swarmed during the earlier geological periods"geological era, era - a major division of geological time; an era is usually divided into two or more periods epoch - a unit of geological time that is a subdivision of a period and is itself divided into ages glacial epoch, glacial period, ice age - any period of time during which glaciers covered a large part of the earth's surface; "the most recent ice age was during the Pleistocene" | | 5. | period - the end or completion of something; "death put a period to his endeavors"; "a change soon put a period to my tranquility"end, ending - the point in time at which something ends; "the end of the year"; "the ending of warranty period" | | 6. | period - the monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant women from puberty to menopause; "the women were sickly and subject to excessive menstruation"; "a woman does not take the gout unless her menses be stopped"--Hippocrates; "the semen begins to appear in males and to be emitted at the same time of life that the catamenia begin to flow in females"--Aristotlehypermenorrhea, menorrhagia - abnormally heavy or prolonged menstruation; can be a symptom of uterine tumors and can lead to anemia if prolonged | | 7. | period - a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations; "in England they call a period a stop"punctuation mark, punctuation - the marks used to clarify meaning by indicating separation of words into sentences and clauses and phrases suspension point - (usually plural) one of a series of points indicating that something has been omitted or that the sentence is incomplete |
period noun 2. age, generation, years, time, days, term, stage, date, cycle, era, epoch, aeon
The time it takes for a satellite to complete one orbit around the earth. As a rule of thumb, satellites with periods of 87.5 minutes are on the verge of reentry.
 Translations period [ˈpɪərɪəd] n → período, periodo; adj [ costume, furniture] → de época; for a period of three weeks → durante (un período de) tres semanas;
 period [ˈpɪərɪəd] n → période f; (Med) → règles fpl for a period of three weeks → pour (une période de) trois semaines; the holiday period ( Brit) → la période des vacances
 period [ˈpɪərɪəd] n (= length of time) → Zeitraum m, Periode f (= era); Zeitalter nt; ( esp US) (= full stop); Punkt m; ( Med) (also: menstrual period) → Periodethe holiday period ( Brit) → die Urlaubszeit;
 period [ˈpɪərɪəd] n → periodo; ( US ) ( FOOTBALL) → tempo; (MED) → mestruazioni fpl adj [ costume, furniture] → d'epoca; the holiday period ( BRIT) → il periodo delle vacanze
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