Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The quality or state of being periodic; recurrence at regular intervals.
  • noun The repetition of similar properties in chemical elements, as indicated by their positioning in the periodic table.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Periodic character; habitual tendency or disposition to recur at stated intervals of time.
  • noun In physical, the number of recurrences of a periodic motion, such as a vibration, in a unit of time; specifically, in electricity, the number of complete periods or cycles per second of an alternating or oscillating current: same as frequency. The usual electrical frequencies are 25 and 60 in the United States and 50 in Europe.
  • noun In botany, the habit in a plant of adjusting its growth or the movements of its organs to regular changes in conditions (of light, heat, etc.), either annual or diurnal. Periodicity is also exhibited in some spontaneous movements not correlated with time of day or season. See phenology, sleep, 5, sensitive-plant, and periodic movement.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being periodical, or regularly recurrent.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Recurrence of a woman's periods; menstruation.
  • noun The quality of being periodic; tendency to recur at regular intervals.
  • noun mathematics The quality of a function with a repeated set of values at regular intervals.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the quality of recurring at regular intervals

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French périodicité

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Examples

  • The Doppler shift periodicity is short and stronger.

    If the Earth is Rare, We May Not Hear from ET | Universe Today 2010

  • 4 There may be a longer term periodicity associated with troposheric temperatures, or 1998 marks the onset of a long period of warming.

    Thompson: "Remarkably Similar" « Climate Audit 2006

  • Thomas Gradgrind, a man of facts and calculations, spoke as a representative of what modern philosophers would characterise, in the context of what is described as periodicity, as the modern age.

    ANC Today 2007

  • Thomas Gradgrind, a man of facts and calculations, spoke as a representative of what modern philosophers would characterise, in the context of what is described as periodicity, as the modern age.

    ANC Today 2007

  • There is what is called periodicity in history; in every period what were the norms during that historical period?

    Thisday Online 2009

  • Thus, the periodicity of the rate of consumption of prose-fiction corresponds with the periodicity which is found to occur in the conception rate and in sexual ecbolic manifestations.

    Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-Erotism Havelock Ellis 1899

  • There are many phenomenon which appear periodic, but which are actually random - I'm sure you could come up with a "periodicity" of volcanic eruptions using time series analysis as well.

    RealClimate 2009

  • There are many phenomenon which appear periodic, but which are actually random - I'm sure you could come up with a "periodicity" of volcanic eruptions using time series analysis as well.

    RealClimate 2009

  • There are many phenomenon which appear periodic, but which are actually random - I'm sure you could come up with a "periodicity" of volcanic eruptions using time series analysis as well.

    RealClimate 2009

  • Functional equation: A relation between the values of a function at different points, such as periodicity or symmetry.

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2009

Comments

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  • ...the interminably slow periodicity of the cycles of these lake tides.

    - Malcolm Lowry, October Ferry to Gabriola

    July 30, 2008