Periodic
adj ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Relative to a period or periods. not-comparable
- 2 Relating to the highest oxidation state of iodine; of or derived from a periodic acid. not-comparable
- 3 Having repeated cycles. not-comparable
"There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].”"
- 4 Occurring at regular intervals. not-comparable
"That last problem did intrude on Hazzard’s roamings, and when she refers to the living city it is with periodic references to thefts of cars and wallets, with a warning not to carry anything “snatchable” by the thieves on motorcycles who whiz through the streets."
- 5 Periodical. not-comparable
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- 6 Pertaining to the revolution of a celestial object in its orbit. not-comparable
- 7 For which any return to it must occur in multiples of k time steps, for some k>1. not-comparable
- 8 Having a structure characterized by periodic sentences. not-comparable, rhetoric
- 1 recurring or reappearing from time to time wordnet
- 2 happening or recurring at regular intervals wordnet
Example
More examples"The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures."
Etymology
From French périodique, from Medieval Latin periodicus (“cyclical”), from Latin periodus (“complete sentence, period, circuit”), from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos, “cycle, period of time”). By surface analysis, period + -ic.
From per- + iodic.
Related phrases
More for "periodic"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.