From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtermsterms[plural] a) CONDITION/something THAT MUST BE DONEthe conditions that are set for an agreement, contract, arrangement etc Under the terms of the agreement, the debt would be repaid over 20 years. your terms and conditions of employment Delivery is within the terms of this contract.equal/unequal/the same etc terms (=conditions that are equal, unequal etc) Small businesses have to compete on equal terms with large organisations. Men and women should be able to work on level terms.on somebody’s (own) terms (=according to the conditions that someone wants) He wanted our relationship to be only on his terms. b) BFLthe arrangements for payment that you agree to when you buy or sell somethingreasonable/favourable/cheaper etc terms Some insurance companies offer very reasonable terms. This allowed tenant farmers to buy land on easy terms (=by paying small sums of money over a long period). → term
Examples from the Corpus
on easy terms• Harvey maintains a continual easy-reading knowingness for his audience, an intimacy on easy terms with everything he talks about.termsterms[plural] if you are on good, bad etc terms with someone, you have a good, bad etc relationship with thembe on good/bad/friendly etc terms (with somebody) By now, Usha and I were on familiar terms. He is barely on speaking terms with his father (=they are angry and almost never speak to each other). We were soon on first-name terms (=using each other’s first names, as a sign of friendship). → termExamples from the Corpus
first-name terms• I got on first-name terms with the other managers-in-the-making.• Like others on first-name terms with the Princess, they know that this is one of her few safe havens.• On first-name terms, are we? 