terms
noun · n
Form of term , plural of term.
Simple meaning
Status about the relations between people or groups.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
turmzIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɝmz
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
Status with respect to the relations between people or groups
“On good terms with her in-laws.”
The amount of money needed to purchase something
n
In legal terminology, Terms can have different meanings, depending on the specific context.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Status with respect to the relations between people or groups
Used this way, terms is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
“On good terms with her in-laws.”
- 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
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Natural pattern: terms with …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use terms
- “On good terms with her in-laws.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A word or expression used for some particular thing.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A statement that is necessarily false.
Discuss the terms of an arrangement.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.