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period definition

Overview

This page has 55 definitions of period with English translations in 5 languages. Period is a noun, an adjective, interjection and verb. Examples of how to use period in a sentence are shown. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .

English period definition

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English periode, from Middle French periode, from Medieval Latin periodus, from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos, circuit, an interval of time, path around), from περί- (perí-, around) + ὁδός (hodós, way). Displaced native Middle English tide (interval, period, season), from Old English tīd (time, period, season), as well as Middle English elde (age, period), from Old English ieldu (age, period of time).

Pronunciation

Noun

period (plural periods)

  1. A length of time. [from 17th c.]
    There was a period of confusion following the announcement.
    You'll be on probation for a six-month period.
  2. A length of time in history seen as a single coherent entity; an epoch, era. [from 16th c.]
    Food rationing continued in the post-war period.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.
  3. (now chiefly Canada, US, Philippines) The punctuation mark “.” (indicating the ending of a sentence or marking an abbreviation).
    • 2002, Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man, Penguin Books (2003), page 299:
      ‘You know, a period? The black spot at the end of a sentence — what do you call them over there?’
  4. (figurative) A decisive end to something; a stop.
  5. The length of time during which the same characteristics of a periodic phenomenon recur, such as the repetition of a wave or the rotation of a planet. [from 17th c.]
  6. (euphemistic) Female menstruation; an episode of this. [from 18th c.]
    When she is on her period, she prefers not to go swimming.
    1. The set of symptoms associated with menstruation, even if not accompanied by menstruation; an episode of these symptoms.
  7. A section of an artist's, writer's (etc.) career distinguished by a given quality, preoccupation etc. [from 19th c.]
    This is one of the last paintings Picasso created during his Blue Period.
  8. Each of the divisions into which a school day is split, allocated to a given subject or activity. [from 19th c.]
    I have math class in second period.
  9. (sports, chiefly ice hockey) Each of the intervals, typically three, of which a game is divided. [from 19th c.]
    Gretzky scored in the last minute of the second period.
  10. (sports, chiefly ice hockey) One or more additional intervals to decide a tied game, an overtime period.
    They won in the first overtime period.
  11. (obsolete, medicine) The length of time for a disease to run its course. [15th–19th c.]
  12. An end or conclusion; the final point of a process etc. [from 16th c.]
  13. (rhetoric) A complete sentence, especially one expressing a single thought or making a balanced, rhythmic whole. [from 16th c.]
  14. (obsolete) A specific moment during a given process; a point, a stage. [17th–19th c.]
    • 1720, Alexander Pope, translating Homer, Iliad, Book IV (note 125):
      The Death of Patroclus was the most eminent Period; and consequently the most proper Time for such Games.
  15. (chemistry) A row in the periodic table of the elements. [from 19th c.]
  16. (geology) A geochronologic unit of millions to tens of millions of years; a subdivision of an era, and subdivided into epochs.
    These fossils are from the Jurassic period.
  17. (genetics) A Drosophila gene, the gene product of which is involved in regulation of the circadian rhythm.
    • 1988 April 1, “Antibodies to the period gene product of drosophila reveal diverse tissue distribution and rhythmic changes in the visual system”, in Neuron, volume 1, number 2, page 141:
      Polyclonal antibodies were prepared against the period gene product, which influences biological rhythms in D. melanogaster, by using small synthetic peptides from the per sequence as immunogens.
    • 2009 November 20, “Gene Dmel\per”, in FlyBase[1] (Gene Report (database record)), The FlyBase Consortium, retrieved 7 December 2009:
      Symbol: Dmel\per / Species: D. melanogaster / Name: period
  18. (music) Two phrases (an antecedent and a consequent phrase).
  19. (mathematics) The length of an interval over which a periodic function, periodic sequence or repeating decimal repeats; often the least such length.
  20. (archaic) End point, conclusion.
    • 1590, Robert Greene, “The Shepheards Tale”, in Greenes Mourning Garment[2], London: Thomas Newman, page 17:
      As thus all gazed on hir, so she glaunced hir lookes on all, surueying them as curiously, as they noted hir exactly, but at last she set downe her period on the face of Alexis []
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, []”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
      And if my death might make this island happy,
      And prove the period of their tyranny,
      I would expend it with all willingness:
    • 1629, John Beaumont, “A Description of Love”, in Bosworth-field with a Taste of the Variety of Other Poems[3], London: Henry Seile, page 100:
      When Loue thus in his Center ends,
      Desire and Hope, his inward friends
      Are shaken off: while Doubt and Griefe,
      The weakest giuers of reliefe,
      Stand in his councell as the chiefe:
      And now he to his period brought,
      From Loue becomes some other thought.
    • 1651, William Cartwright, The Ordinary[4], London: Humphrey Moseley, act III, scene 5, page 51:
      Set up an hour-glasse; hee’l go on untill
      The last sand make his Period.

Synonyms

Antonyms

  • (length of time of recurrence of a periodic phenomenon): frequency

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Dictionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Adjective

period (not comparable)

  1. Designating anything from a given historical era. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
    a period car
    a period TV commercial
  2. Evoking, or appropriate for, a particular historical period, especially through the use of elaborate costumes and scenery.
    • 2004, Mark Singer, Somewhere in America, Houghton Mifflin, page 70:
      As the guests arrived — there were about a hundred, a majority in period attire — I began to feel out of place in my beige summer suit, white shirt, and red necktie. Then I got over it. I certainly didn't suffer from Confederate-uniform envy.

Interjection

period

  1. (chiefly Canada, US) That's final; that's the end of the matter (analogous to a period ending a sentence); end of story.
    I know you don't want to go to the dentist, but your teeth need to be checked, period!

Synonyms

Translations

See also

  • (symbol) .

Punctuation

Further reading

Verb

period (third-person singular simple present periods, present participle perioding, simple past and past participle perioded)

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To come to a period; to conclude.
    • 1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political:
      For you may period upon this, that where there is the most pity for others, there is the greatest misery in the party pitied.
  2. (obsolete, transitive, rare) To put an end to.

Anagrams

Polish period definition

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin periodus, Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpɛ.rjɔt/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛrjɔt
  • Syllabification: pe‧riod

Noun

period m inan

  1. (literary) period (a length of time)
    Synonym: okres
  2. (literary) period (a period of time in history seen as a single coherent entity)
    Synonym: okres
  3. (literary) period (the length of time during which the same characteristics of a periodic phenomenon recur)
    Synonym: okres
  4. (physiology) period (female menstruation)
    Synonyms: ciota, ciotka, menstruacja, miesiączka, okres
  5. (rhetoric) period (full sentence)
    Synonym: okres

Declension

Derived terms

adjectives
adverb
  • periodycznie
nouns
verbs
  • periodyzować
  • speriodyzować

Further reading

  • period in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • period in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian period definition

Noun

period n (plural perioade)

  1. Alternative form of perioadă

Declension

Serbo-Croatian period definition

Etymology

From Latin periodus, from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /perǐod/
  • Hyphenation: pe‧ri‧od

Noun

perìod m (Cyrillic spelling перѝод)

  1. period (of time)

Declension

References

  • period” in Hrvatski jezični portal

Swedish period definition

Pronunciation

Noun

period c

  1. a period, a limited amount of time
  2. (ice hockey, floorball) period

Declension

Declension of period 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative period perioden perioder perioderna
Genitive periods periodens perioders periodernas