period
/ˈpɪɚ.i.əd/ noun A1- A length of time. · There was a period of confusion following the announcement.· You'll be on probation for a six-month period.
- A length of time in history seen as a single coherent entity; an epoch, era. · Food rationing continued in the post-war period.
- The punctuation mark “.” (indicating the ending of a sentence or marking an abbreviation).
- A decisive end to something; a stop.
- 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.
- Female menstruation; an episode of this. · When she is on her period, she prefers not to go swimming.
- The set of symptoms associated with menstruation, even if not accompanied by menstruation; an episode of these symptoms.
- A section of an artist's, writer's (etc.) career distinguished by a given quality, preoccupation etc. · This is one of the last paintings Picasso created during his Blue Period.
Plural periods
From the library
It had given him a disgust to his business and to his residence in a small market town; and, quitting them both, he had removed with his family to a house about a mile from Meryton, denominated from that period Lucas Lodge; where he could think with pleasure of his own importance, and, unshackled by business, occupy himself solely in being civil to all the world.
Bennet to find comfort in staying at home at any period of her life.
The next was in these words:--“‘I do not pretend to regret anything I shall leave in Hertfordshire except your society, my dearest friend; but we will hope, at some future period, to enjoy many returns of that delightful intercourse we have known, and in the meanwhile may lessen the pain of separation by a very frequent and most unreserved correspondence.
But may we not hope that the period of future happiness, to which Miss Bingley looks forward, may arrive earlier than she is aware, and that the delightful intercourse you have known as friends will be renewed with yet greater satisfaction as sisters?
Other matches
Learn period in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.