Period Definition

period

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɪərɪəd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

period (not comparable)

1. Appropriate for a given historical era.
   • 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 North America) And nothing else; and nothing less; used for emphasis.

   When I say "eat your dinner," it means "eat your dinner," period!

Synonyms

• (and nothing else): full stop

Noun

period (plural periods)

1. (obsolete, medicine) The length of time for a disease to run its course. [15th-19th c.]
2. An end or conclusion; the final point of a process etc. [from 16th c.]
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.3:

     All comes to one period, whether man make an end of himselfe, or whether he endure it [...].

3. A period of time in history seen as a single coherent entity; an epoch, era. [from 16th c.]

   Food rationing continued in the post-war period.

4. (rhetoric) A complete sentence, especially one expressing a single thought or making a balanced, rhythmic whole. [from 16th c.]
   • 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:

     that such iron moulds as these shall have autority to knaw out the choicest periods of exquisitest books, and to commit such a treacherous fraud against the orphan remainders of worthiest men after death, the more sorrow will belong to that haples race of men, whose misfortune it is to have understanding.

5. (now chiefly North America) The punctuation mark “.” (indicating the ending of a sentence or marking an abbreviation).
6. 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.

7. 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.]
8. (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.

9. Female menstruation. [from 18th c.]

   When she is on her period she can be more disagreeable than usual

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. (chiefly North America) Each of the intervals into which various sporting events are divided. [from 19th c.]

    Gretzky scored in the last minute of the second period.

13. (chemistry) A row in the periodic table of the elements. [from 19th c.]
14. (genetics) A Drosophila gene which gene product is involved in regulation of the circadian rhythm
    • 1988,, “Antibodies to the period gene product of drosophila reveal diverse tissue distribution and rhythmic changes in the visual system”, 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 "Gene Dmel\per (in en)." (Gene Report (database record)) FlyBase. The FlyBase Consortium: 20 November 2009. URL accessed on 7 December, 2009.

Synonyms

• (punctuation mark “.”): full stop (UK, Australia)
• See also Wikisaurus:period

Antonyms

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

See also

• Appendix:Unsupported titles

Punctuation

Translations

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 Help:How to check translations.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: fresh · noble · appearance · #713: period · William · remain · covered

Anagrams

• dopier

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA: /perǐod/
• Hyphenation: pe‧ri‧od

Noun

perìod m. (Cyrillic spelling перѝод)

1. period (of time)

Declension

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

period c.

1. a period, a limited amount of time

Declension

Related terms

• brunstperiod
• periodare
• periodicitet
• periodisering
• periodisk
• periodkort
• periodvis

Related 'Period' Searches:

See Also:

• Arts: Art History: Periods and Movements: De Stijl
• Arts: Periods and Movements
• Period
• Perioda
• Periode
• Perioden
• Periodo
• Periods
• Periods and Movements
• Periodvis