Tenure

tenure

noun ten·ure \ˈten-yər also -ˌyu̇r\

: the amount of time that a person holds a job, office, or title

: the right to keep a job (especially the job of being a professor at a college or university) for as long as you want to have it

law : the right to use property

Full Definition of TENURE

: the act, right, manner, or term of holding something (as a landed property, a position, or an office); especially : a status granted after a trial period to a teacher that gives protection from summary dismissal

: grasp, hold

— ten·ur·able \-ə-bəl\ adjective

— te·nur·ial \te-ˈnyu̇r-ē-əl\ adjective

— te·nur·ial·ly \-ə-lē\ adverb

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Examples of TENURE

… but there is also about it just the trace of the nettlesome righteousness that alienated much of Washington during his tenure there, the not-so-subtle suggestion that while he might be in politics, he is not of politics and certainly not, God_forbid, a politician. —Jim Wooten, New York Times Magazine, 29 Jan. 1995
Pittsburgh's offensive linemen, trap blockers during Noll's tenure, had to bulk up for the straight-ahead game. —Paul Zimmerman, Sports Illustrated, 9 Nov. 1992
A mural on the upper half of a four-story guesthouse was painted in 1977 by twelve-year-old schoolchildren, whose tenure on the scaffold must have thrilled their parents. —John McPhee, New Yorker, 22 Feb. 1988
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Origin of TENURE

Middle English, from Anglo-French teneure, tenure, from Medieval Latin tenitura, from Vulgar Latin *tenitus, past participle of Latin tenēre to hold — more at thin

First Known Use: 15th century

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