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# semester

«semester» in Mova's school dictionary: **one of the two halves of a school or college year** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a semester, semesters)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A semester is one of the two halves of a school or college year. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/semester/#m1)

2) It is a period of learning, usually about four or five months long, with its own classes and tests. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/semester/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

Used mostly in the USA, Canada and at universities everywhere: «first semester», «fall semester», «spring semester», «this semester». In the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand schools usually say «term» instead, and a year has three or four terms.

### examples

- The new semester starts next week. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/semester/#x1)
- We study the solar system in the first semester. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/semester/#x2)
- My sister is spending a semester at a college far away. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/semester/#x3)
- Our grades come home at the end of the semester. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/semester/#x4)
- How many classes are you taking this semester? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/semester/#x5)
- In Australia my cousin says «term» instead of «semester». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/semester/#x6)
- The spring semester ends with a big science fair. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/semester/#x7)

### note

Countable noun: «a semester, two semesters». Semester means half a year of school, so a school year has 2 semesters; a «term» can be a third or a quarter of the year. In maths problems, 2 semesters = 1 school year. Stress: se-MES-ter.

### In the corpora

- [Australia and New Zealand have four school terms a year, the UK and Ireland three, and many US schools two semesters.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/263-clocks-calendars-and-planning/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «semester» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/semester/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.