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period

noun · adjective · verb

Simple meaning

A unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pihreeuhd

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɪɹiəd

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed

    “Ganoid fishes swarmed during the earlier geological periods.”

  2. 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.

  3. A length of time in history seen as a single coherent entity; an epoch, era.

  4. A punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations

  5. The set of symptoms associated with menstruation, even if not accompanied by menstruation; an episode of these symptoms.

  6. Each of the divisions into which a school day is split, allocated to a given subject or activity.

adjective

  1. Menstrual.

  2. Evoking, or appropriate for, a particular historical period, especially through the use of elaborate costumes and scenery.

  3. Designating anything from a given historical era.

verb

  1. colloquial

    To menstruate; to excrete menstrual blood.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed

Used this way, period is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.

Heard in a sentence
“Ganoid fishes swarmed during the earlier geological periods.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Science
  • Academic writing
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Nearby words

  • geological period , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use period

  • “Ganoid fishes swarmed during the earlier geological periods.”noun
  • “A time period of 30 years.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Length / unit

colonial period

Each

month period

Other combinations

first periodlong periodyear periodshort periodearly periodbrief period

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • periodicalnounDerived noun

    A publication that appears at fixed intervals.

  • periodicadjectiveDerived adjective

    Happening or recurring at regular intervals.

  • periodicallyadverbDerived adverb

    In a sporadic manner.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • period piecenounCompound term

    Any work of art whose special value lies in its evocation of a historical period.

  • period of timenounCompound term

    An amount of time.

  • period of playnounCompound term

    The time during which play proceeds.

  • glacial periodnounCompound term

    Any period of time during which glaciers covered a large part of the earth's surface.

  • devonian periodnounCompound term

    From 405 million to 345 million years ago.

  • grace periodnounCompound term

    A period of time past the deadline for fulfilling an obligation during which a penalty that would be imposed for being late is waived, especially an extended period granted as a special…

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • periodic motionnounRelated term

    Motion that recurs over and over and the period of time required for each recurrence remains the same.

  • periodic movementnounRelated term

    Motion that recurs over and over and the period of time required for each recurrence remains the same.

  • periodic breathingnounRelated term

    Abnormal respiration in which periods of shallow and deep breathing alternate.

  • periodic apnea of the newbornnounRelated term

    Irregular breathing of newborns.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed

geological periodRaretime period

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.