[peer-ee-uh
d] 
| 1. | a rather large interval of time that is meaningful in the life of a person, in history, etc., because of its particular characteristics: a period of illness; a period of great profitability for a company; a period of social unrest in Germany. |
| 2. | any specified division or portion of time: poetry of the period from 1603 to 1660. |
| 3. | a round of time or series of years by which time is measured. |
| 4. | a round of time marked by the recurrence of some phenomenon or occupied by some recurring process or action. |
| 5. | the point of completion of a round of time or of the time during which something lasts or happens. |
| 6. | Education. a specific length of time during school hours that a student spends in a classroom, laboratory, etc., or has free. |
| 7. | any of the parts of equal length into which a game is divided. |
| 8. | the time during which something runs its course. |
| 9. | the present time. |
| 10. | the point or character (.) used to mark the end of a declarative sentence, indicate an abbreviation, etc.; full stop. |
| 11. | a full pause, as is made at the end of a complete sentence; full stop. |
| 12. | a sentence, esp. a well-balanced, impressive sentence: the stately periods of Churchill. |
| 13. | a periodic sentence. |
| 14. | an occurrence of menstruation. |
| 15. | a time of the month during which menstruation occurs. |
| 16. | Geology. the basic unit of geologic time, during which a standard rock system is formed: comprising two or more epochs and included with other periods in an era. |
| 17. | Physics. the duration of one complete cycle of a wave or oscillation; the reciprocal of the frequency. |
| 18. | Music. a division of a composition, usually a passage of eight or sixteen measures, complete or satisfactory in itself, commonly consisting of two or more contrasted or complementary phrases ending with a conclusive cadence. |
| 19. | Astronomy.
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| 20. | Mathematics. See under periodic (def. 5). |
| 21. | Classical Prosody. a group of two or more cola. |
| 22. | noting, pertaining to, evocative of, imitating, or representing a historical period or the styles current during a specific period of history: period costumes; a period play. |
| 23. | (used by a speaker or writer to indicate that a decision is irrevocable or that a point is no longer discussable): I forbid you to go, period. |
A punctuation mark (.) that ends a declarative sentence. A period is also used in abbreviations such as Mr. and Dr.
period pe·ri·od (pĭr'ē-əd)
n.
An interval of time characterized by the occurrence of a certain condition, event, or phenomenon.
One of the stages of a disease.
A menstrual period.
A sequence of elements arranged in order of increasing atomic number.
period (pĭr'ē-əd) Pronunciation Key
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