different between matter vs term

English

Etymology

From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin materia (“matter, stuff, material”), derivative of Latin mater (“mother”). Doublet of Madeira.

Displaced native Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”) (from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”)), Old English intinga (“matter, affair, business”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?mæt?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?mæt?/, [?mæ??]
  • Homophone: madder
• Rhymes: -æt?(?)
• Hyphenation: mat?ter

Noun

matter (countable and uncountable, plural matters)

1. Substance, material.
   1. (physics) The basic structural component of the universe. Matter usually has mass and volume.
   2. (physics) Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles.

      Antonym: antimatter

   3. A kind of substance.

   4. Printed material, especially in books or magazines.

   5. (philosophy) Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.
2. A condition, subject or affair, especially one of concern.
   • 1597, Francis Bacon, Of the Colours of Good and Evil

     if the matter should be tried by duel

   • 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift

     The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that’s already been settled.

3. An approximate amount or extent.
4. (obsolete) The essence; the pith; the embodiment.
   • 1611, Ben Jonson, Oberon, the Faery Prince

     He is the matter of virtue.

5. (obsolete) Inducing cause or reason, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing.
6. (dated) Pus.

Synonyms

• material
• stuff
• substance

Derived terms

Related terms

• dark matter

Translations

Verb

matter (third-person singular simple present matters, present participle mattering, simple past and past participle mattered)

1. (intransitive) To be important. [from 16th c.]
2. (transitive, in negative constructions, now England regional, Caribbean) To care about, to mind; to find important. [from 17th c.]
   • , Folio Society 1973, p.47:

     Besides, if it had been out of doors I had not mattered it so much; but with my own servant, in my own house, under my own roof […]

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 56:

     He matter'd not that, he said; coy maids made the fondest wives […].

3. (intransitive, medicine, archaic) To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.

   • Each slight sore mattereth.

Derived terms

• it doesn't matter
• no matter (“in spite of”)

Synonyms

• (be important): signify

Translations

French

Verb

matter

1. Alternative spelling of mater

Conjugation

Anagrams

• mettra

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mat?/

Adjective

matter

1. comparative degree of matt
2. inflection of matt:
   1. strong/mixed nominative masculine singular
   2. strong genitive/dative feminine singular
   3. strong genitive plural

Middle French

Alternative forms

• mater

Verb

matter

1. to checkmate

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

matter m pl or f pl

1. indefinite plural of matte (Etymology 1)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

matter f pl

1. indefinite plural of matte (Etymology 1)

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tûm, IPA^(key): /t??m/
• (US) enPR: tûrm, IPA^(key): /t?m/
• Rhymes: -??(r)m

Etymology 1

From Middle English terme, borrowed from Old French terme, from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end; in Medieval Latin, also a time, period, word, covenant, etc.”).

Doublet of terminus. Old English had termen, from the same source.

Noun

term (plural terms)

1. That which limits the extent of anything; limit, extremity, bound, boundary.

2. A chronological limitation or restriction.

3. Any of the binding conditions or promises in a legal contract.

4. (geometry, archaic) A point, line, or superficies that limits.

   A line is the term of a superficies, and a superficies is the term of a solid.

5. A word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge.

   "Algorithm" is a term used in computer science.

6. Relations among people.
7. Part of a year, especially one of the three parts of an academic year.
8. Duration of a set length; period in office of fixed length.
   1. The time during which legal courts are open.
   2. Certain days on which rent is paid.
9. With respect to a pregnancy, the period during which birth usually happens (approximately 40 weeks from conception).

10. (of a patent) The maximum period during which the patent can be maintained into force.
11. (archaic) A menstrual period.
    • 1660, Samuel Pepys, Diary

      My wife, after the absence of her terms for seven weeks, gave me hopes of her being with child, but on the last day of the year she hath them again.

12. (mathematics) Any value (variable or constant) or expression separated from another term by a space or an appropriate character, in an overall expression or table.

13. (logic) The subject or the predicate of a proposition; one of the three component parts of a syllogism, each one of which is used twice.

    • The subject and predicate of a proposition are, after Aristotle, together called its terms or extremes.

14. (astrology) An essential dignity in which unequal segments of every astrological sign have internal rulerships which affect the power and integrity of each planet in a natal chart.
15. (art) A statue of the upper body, sometimes without the arms, ending in a pillar or pedestal. [from 17th c.]
    • 1773, Joshua Reynolds, in John Ingamells, John Edgcumbe (eds.), The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale 2000, p. 42:

      You have been already informed, I have no doubt, of the subject which we have chosen: the adorning a Term of Hymen with festoons of flowers.

16. (nautical) A piece of carved work placed under each end of the taffrail.

    The Cabin is large and commodious, well calculated for the Accommodation of Pa?engers. Merchandi?e, Produce, &c. carried on the lowe?t Terms.[1]

Hyponyms

• blanket term
• collective term
• umbrella term
• (part of a year): trimester, semester, quarter

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• idiom
• lexeme
• listeme
• word

Verb

term (third-person singular simple present terms, present participle terming, simple past and past participle termed)

1. To phrase a certain way; to name or call.

Synonyms

• describe as, designate, dub, name, refer to; see also Thesaurus:denominate

Adjective

term (not comparable)

1. (medicine, colloquial) Born or delivered at term.

References

• term on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Clipping of terminal.

Noun

term (plural terms)

1. (computing, informal) A computer program that emulates a physical terminal.

Etymology 3

Short for terminate, termination, terminated employee, etc.

Verb

term (third-person singular simple present terms, present participle terming, simple past and past participle termed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To terminate one's employment

Synonyms

• axe, fire, sack; see also Thesaurus:lay off

Noun

term (plural terms)

1. One whose employment has been terminated

Further reading

• term in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• term in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Albanian

Etymology

From ter.

Noun

term m (indefinite plural terma, definite singular terma, definite plural termat)

1. foundation, plot of land

Related terms

• ter

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?rm

Noun

term m (plural termen, diminutive termpje n)

1. term; A word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge.
2. (mathematics) term; One of the addends in a sum

Derived terms

• termsgewijs

Anagrams

• remt

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term

Noun

term m (definite singular termen, indefinite plural termer, definite plural termene)

1. a term (word or phrase)

References

• “term” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term

Noun

term m (definite singular termen, indefinite plural termar, definite plural termane)

1. a term (word or phrase)

References

• “term” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Noun

term c

1. a term (a well-defined word or phrase, in a terminology)
2. (mathematics) a term (an operand in addition or subtraction)
3. singular of termer (“thermae, Roman baths”) (a facility for bathing in ancient Rome)

Declension

Related terms

• fackterm
• termbank
• terminologi

References