tenure

[ ten-yer ]
See synonyms for tenure on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the holding or possessing of anything: the tenure of an office.

  2. the holding of property, especially real property, of a superior in return for services to be rendered.

  1. the period or term of holding something.

  2. status granted to an employee, usually after a probationary period, indicating that the position or employment is permanent.

verb (used with object)
  1. to give tenure to: After she served three years on probation, the committee tenured her.

Origin of tenure

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Anglo-French; Old French teneure, from Vulgar Latin tenitura (unrecorded), equivalent to tenit(us) (unrecorded) “held” (for Latin tentus, past participle of tenēre “to hold”) + -ura -ure

Other words from tenure

  • ten·u·ri·al [ten-yoor-ee-uhl], /tɛnˈyʊər i əl/, adjective
  • ten·u·ri·al·ly, adverb
  • non·ten·u·ri·al, adjective
  • non·ten·u·ri·al·ly, adverb
  • un·der·ten·ure, noun

Words that may be confused with tenure

Words Nearby tenure

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use tenure in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tenure

tenure

/ (ˈtɛnjʊə, ˈtɛnjə) /


noun
  1. the possession or holding of an office or position

  2. the length of time an office, position, etc, lasts; term

  1. mainly US and Canadian the improved security status of a person after having been in the employ of the same company or institution for a specified period

  2. the right to permanent employment until retirement, esp for teachers, lecturers, etc

  3. property law

    • the holding or occupying of property, esp realty, in return for services rendered, etc

    • the duration of such holding or occupation

Origin of tenure

1
C15: from Old French, from Medieval Latin tenitūra, ultimately from Latin tenēre to hold

Derived forms of tenure

  • tenurial, adjective
  • tenurially, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012