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• interim
  interim

  noun

  an intervening time; interval; meantime.
• Interim
  Interim

  noun

  any of three provisional arrangements made during the Reformation by the German emperor and Diet to regulate religious differences between Roman Catholics and Protestants

interim

American  

[in-ter-uhm] / ˈɪn tər əm /

noun

1. an intervening time; interval; meantime.

   School doesn't start till September, but he's taking a Spanish class in the interim.

2. a temporary or provisional arrangement; stopgap; makeshift.

   As an interim, her summer job was pretty good.

3. Church History. Interim, any of three provisional arrangements for the settlement of religious differences between German Protestants and Roman Catholics during the Reformation.

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adjective

1. for, during, belonging to, or connected with an intervening period of time; temporary; provisional.

   This is just an interim arrangement till office renovations are finished.

   She is the organization’s interim director while the board reviews applications for the role.

adverb

1. meanwhile.

interim ¹ British  

/ ˈɪntərɪm /

adjective

1. (prenominal) temporary, provisional, or intervening

   interim measures to deal with the emergency

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noun

1. the intervening time; the meantime (esp in the phrase in the interim )

adverb

1. rare meantime

Interim ² British  

/ ˈɪntərɪm /

noun

1. any of three provisional arrangements made during the Reformation by the German emperor and Diet to regulate religious differences between Roman Catholics and Protestants

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interim Idioms  

1. see in the interim.

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Etymology

Origin of interim

First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin: “in the meantime,” from inter “between” + -im, adverb suffix

Explanation

An interim is a period of time between one event and another. If a teacher leaves mid-year, there might be an interim teacher, one who takes over the class until a permanent replacement is hired. Interim is a Latin adverb meaning "in the meantime." The first part, inter means "between." Interim is the time between, and you can use it as a fancy way of referring to a time you squeeze something in. Maybe you get ice cream during the interim between school and piano lessons. This word is often used in official contexts — for example, after the CEO of a company steps down, an interim CEO might serve while a formal job search is conducted.

Example Sentences

Steve Day, senior vice president of corporate finance and CFO of Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business unit, will serve as interim CFO.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 11, 2026

A six-fight undercard, including a heavyweight interim title bout between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane, will precede the main event.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026

Steve Day, the company’s senior vice president of corporate finance, will serve as interim chief financial officer.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 2026

"Seeing Jadon close up, technically, he's got an awful lot of ability," said current United interim head coach Michael Carrick when he was asked about Sancho in March.

From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026

During those six months, a loyajirga would be held, a grand council of leaders and elders, who would form an interim government to hold power for two years, leading up to democratic elections.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

Related Words

• provisional