different between obligation vs term

English

Etymology

From Middle English obligacioun, from Old French obligacion, from Latin obligatio, obligationem, from obligatum (past participle of obligare), from ob- (“to”) + ligare (“to bind”), from Proto-Indo-European *ley?- (“to bind”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?b.l???e?.??n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

obligation (countable and uncountable, plural obligations)

1. The act of binding oneself by a social, legal, or moral tie to someone.
2. A social, legal, or moral requirement, duty, contract, or promise that compels someone to follow or avoid a particular course of action.
3. A course of action imposed by society, law, or conscience by which someone is bound or restricted.
4. (law) A legal agreement stipulating a specified action or forbearance by a party to the agreement; the document containing such agreement.
   • 1668 December 19, James Dalrymple, “Mr. Alexander Seaton contra Menzies” in The Deci?ions of the Lords of Council & Se??ion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 575

     The Pupil after his Pupillarity, had granted a Di?charge to one of the Co-tutors, which did extingui?h the whole Debt of that Co-tutor, and con?equently of all the re?t, they being all correi debendi, lyable by one individual Obligation, which cannot be Di?charged as to one, and ?tand as to all the re?t.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often used with "obligation": moral, legal, social, contractual, political, mutual, military, perpetual, etc.

Synonyms

• (the act of binding oneself by a social, legal, or moral tie to someone): commitment
• (requirement, duty, contract or promise): duty

Antonyms

• (requirement, duty, contract or promise): right

Related terms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obligatio, obligationem, from the verb oblig? (“tie together”).

Pronunciation

Noun

obligation f (plural obligations)

1. obligation

Related terms

• obliger

Further reading

• “obligation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle English

Noun

obligation

1. Alternative form of obligacioun

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