semester
noun
Simple meaning
One of two divisions of an academic year.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
suhmehsterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
səˈmɛstɚ
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Half of a school year (US) or academic year such as autumn or spring semester.
One of two divisions of an academic year
Half a year; a period of 6 months
A period or term of six months.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Half of a school year (US) or academic year such as autumn or spring semester.
Used this way, semester is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in academic writing and education or classroom contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
- Education/classroom
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use semester
- “This semester, I am taking three interesting new classes.”
Share your sentence
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “semester” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
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.