à terme

\a tɛʁm\

/\a tɛʁm\/ adv

The verdict

“à terme” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dans un futur indéterminé, mais immanquablement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-a-terme · à terme · French

à terme · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "À" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for à terme
PropertyValue
Headwordà terme
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\a tɛʁm\
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « à terme » en français

à termereste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

à terme is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \a tɛʁm\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

à terme doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is à terme, spelled À- -T-E-R-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dans un futur indéterminé, mais immanquablement.
  2. 2
    À crédit.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how à terme appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Sur la gratuité scolaire au niveau postsecondaire – cheval de bataille de GND depuis l’époque de la grève étudiante –, la plateforme électorale propose désormais de l’atteindre « à terme », plutôt que dans un délai de cinq ans, comme lors des dernières élections.
  2. Les dirigeants des pays membres de l'OTAN vont réaffirmer lors d'un sommet à Vilnius leur intention d'intégrer à terme l'Ukraine dans l'Alliance, mais la formulation exacte de cet engagement, qui répond à de fortes attentes de Kiev, fait l'objet d'intenses tractations.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "à terme"?
"à terme" is spelled À- -T-E-R-M-E. The IPA pronunciation is \a tɛʁm\.
What does "à terme" mean?
As an adverb, "à terme" means: Dans un futur indéterminé, mais immanquablement.
How do you pronounce "à terme"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "à terme" is \a tɛʁm\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "à terme" come from?
"à terme" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list