Period Definition

pîrē-əd

periods

noun

periods

An interval of time characterized by the prevalence of a specified culture, ideology, or technology.

Artifacts of the pre-Columbian period.

American Heritage

The interval between certain happenings.

A ten-year period of peace.

Webster's New World

A portion of time, often indefinite, characterized by certain events, processes, conditions, etc.; stage.

A period of change, the present period.

Webster's New World

An interval regarded as a distinct evolutionary or developmental phase.

Picasso's early career is divided into his blue period and rose period.

American Heritage

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.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

adjective

Of or like that of a particular or appropriate period or age.

A Victorian house decorated with period furniture, baroque music played on period instruments.

Webster's New World

(of a film, or play, or similar) Set in and designed to evoke a particular historical period, especially through the use of elaborate costumes and scenery.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

interjection

Used to emphasize finality, as when expressing a decision or an opinion.

You're not going to the movies tonight, period!

American Heritage

Used to indicate that the preceding statement is the speaker's last, conclusive, word on the subject.

Be home by midnight or you're grounded, period!

Webster's New World

(chiefly North America) And nothing else; and nothing less; used for emphasis.

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

Wiktionary

verb

To put an end to.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Period

Noun

Singular:

period

Plural:

periods

Origin of Period

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 tÄ«d (“time, period, season"), Middle English elde (“age, period"), from Old English ieldu (“age, period of time").

From Wiktionary
Middle English periode from Old French from Medieval Latin periodus from Latin perihodos rhetorical period from Greek periodos circuit peri- peri- hodos way

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition