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   Pe·ri·od

   /ˈpirēəd/

   

   noun

   • 1. a length or portion of time: "he had long periods of depression" Similar timespellintervalstretchtermspanphasesessionboutrunspacedurationchapterstagewhileinformal:patch
   • ▪ a portion of time in the life of a nation, civilization, etc. characterized by the same prevalent features or conditions: "the early medieval period" Similar eraageepochtimedaysyearseongenerationdate
   • ▪ a major division of geological time that is a subdivision of an era and is itself subdivided into epochs, corresponding to a system in chronostratigraphy: "the Cretaceous period"
   • ▪ one of the set divisions of the day in a school allocated to a lesson or other activity: "two periods of PE are allocated on the timetable" Similar lessonclasssession
   • ▪ each of the intervals into which the playing time of a sporting event is divided: "the Lightnings ran at the Leafs hard in a very rough first period"
   • 2. the interval of time between successive occurrences of the same state in an oscillatory or cyclic phenomenon, such as a mechanical vibration, an alternating current, a variable star, or an electromagnetic wave.
   • ▪ the time taken by a celestial object to rotate around its axis, or to make one circuit of its orbit.
   • ▪ the interval between successive equal values of a periodic function.
   • 3. a flow of blood and other material from the lining of the uterus, occurring in nonpregnant women at intervals of about 28 days between puberty and menopause and typically lasting for a few days: "she's got her period" Similar menstruationmenstrual flowinformal:the cursemonthliestime of the monthtechnical:mensesarchaic:timerare:flowers
   • 4. a punctuation mark (.) used at the end of a sentence or an abbreviation. North American Similar pointstopfull stopfull point
   • ▪ added to the end of a statement to indicate that no further discussion is possible or desirable: informal North American "he is the sole owner of the trademark, period" Similar and that's thatand that is the end of the matterfinisfull stop
   • 5. a set of elements occupying an entire horizontal row in the periodic table.
   • 6. a complex sentence, especially one consisting of several clauses, constructed as part of a formal speech or oration.
   • ▪ a complete idea, typically consisting of two or four phrases.

   adjective

   • 1. belonging to or characteristic of a past historical time, especially in style or design: "a splendid selection of period furniture"

   Word Origin late Middle English (denoting the time during which something, especially a disease, runs its course): from Old French periode, via Latin from Greek periodos ‘orbit, recurrence, course’, from peri- ‘around’ + hodos ‘way, course’. The sense ‘portion of time’ dates from the early 17th century.

   Scrabble Points: 9

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