terminology
Americannoun
-
terminologies
plural
-
the system of terms belonging or peculiar to a science, art, or specialized subject; nomenclature.
the terminology of botany.
-
the science of terms, as in particular sciences or arts.
noun
-
the body of specialized words relating to a particular subject
-
the study of terms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of terminology
1795–1805; < Medieval Latin termin ( us ) term + -o- + -logy
Explanation
Terminology is vocabulary associated with a certain field of study, profession, or activity. Knowing the terminology is an important part of being able to work in a given profession. When your nuclear physicist friends start talking shop and it suddenly sounds like they are speaking a different language, they are probably using nuclear physics terminology. Education terminology includes "rubric," "lesson plan," "pop quiz," "term paper," "student engagement." Medical terminology includes "blood work," "CVC," "scalpel," "set." Lawyers sometimes use legal terminology such as "forthwith," "heretofore" and "the part of the first part" to intimidate people they might want to threaten to sue. It works.
Vocabulary lists containing terminology
Power Suffix: -ology
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Freak the Mighty
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "T"
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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.
See Examples For:
Before paying medical bills, contact the provider and ask for an itemized bill that contains current procedural terminology, or CPT, codes, which are basically the lingo and the coding that the medical industry uses.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
The concept of the cloud, he says, is merely a trick of terminology that makes us think there is something celestial about data storage: “Many of us really thought that information had become airborne.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The terminology we use to talk about “countries” has been naturalized over centuries by the dominance of the form of the nation-state on the global political scene.
From Slate ● Jul. 4, 2026
In finance, complex terminology is frequently used to describe simple ideas.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Did they keep score—and use all that confusing tennis terminology?
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
Or a long series of practice reps to better understand new systems and terminologies.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2022
He also revealed that his stage name came from "little terminologies" he developed with friends in the 1990s.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2022
“They’ll use any platform available, and they will adjust their methods to evade detection, like switching terminologies and using code words.”
From National Geographic ● Dec. 18, 2020
“If we keep on shoving terminologies and words first, people go, ‘Whoa, this is new, this doesn’t make sense, it’s all young people doing this.’”
From The Guardian ● Mar. 27, 2019
“Oh, you know—when you have millennia of memories in this mortal mind, it’s hard to remember terminologies all the time.”
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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.
