tenure
Americannoun
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the holding or possessing of anything.
the tenure of an office.
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the holding of property, especially real property, of a superior in return for services to be rendered.
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the period or term of holding something.
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status granted to an employee, usually after a probationary period, indicating that the position or employment is permanent.
verb (used with object)
noun
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the possession or holding of an office or position
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the length of time an office, position, etc, lasts; term
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the improved security status of a person after having been in the employ of the same company or institution for a specified period
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the right to permanent employment until retirement, esp for teachers, lecturers, etc
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property law
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the holding or occupying of property, esp realty, in return for services rendered, etc
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the duration of such holding or occupation
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Other Word Forms
- nontenurial adjective
- nontenurially adverb
- tenurial adjective
- tenurially adverb
- undertenure noun
Etymology
Origin of tenure
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Despite repeated calls by students for Harvard to revoke Summers’ tenure, he held onto his teaching and academic appointments at Harvard until he chose to retire.
From Salon
His tenure has also included workforce reductions, naming of a new editor-in-chief known for opinion writing, and clashes with journalists over issues of editorial independence.
From BBC
Many in the food world know Gray for his tenure as executive chef at Momofuku Ko, David Chang’s crown jewel, for over a decade.
Earlier in his Amazon tenure, DeSantis would at times get into shouting matches in meetings with senior executives over the direction of the cloud business, according to people who witnessed the confrontations.
That appeared to be the end of his tenure, but he has stayed, though fans held up a banner on Sunday before the 1-0 win over Wolves saying he was "finished".
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
