From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtenureten‧ure /ˈtenjə, -jʊə $ -jər/ noun [uncountable] 1 SECthe right to stay permanently in a teaching job It’s becoming increasingly difficult to acquire academic tenure.2 formalPERIOD OF TIME the period of time when someone has an important job The company has doubled in value during his tenure.3 lawSCL the legal right to live in a house or use a piece of land for a period of time —tenured adjective a tenured professor a tenured position
Examples from the Corpus
tenure• If a professor doesn't get tenure after ten years, he probably never will.• When I got tenure at Hopkins, I was a promising researcher.• The system of reversion could also be used, as we have seen, to establish something near to defacto hereditary tenure.• They suggest therefore that greater emphasis be given to housing tenure in evaluating relative deprivation.• At a local scale, table 5.5 shows differences in tenure within Devon, an example of a predominantly rural county.• No successor could hope for such an earth-moving tenure as that.• Under Richardson's tenure as commander, the Navy grew dramatically.• The situation for teachers without tenure varies according to the circumstances surrounding the dismissal.From Longman Business Dictionarytenureten‧ure /ˈtenjə, -jʊə-jər/ noun [uncountable]1the period of time when someone has an important job or positionDuring his four-year tenure as president, the firm’s annual revenue rose dramatically.2the right to stay permanently in a job, for example a teaching job in a universitythe life tenure of judges at the State Courts3LAW the legal right to live in a house or use a piece of landinequalities in land tenure → see also security of tenureOrigin tenure (1400-1500) Old French Medieval Latin tenitura, from Latin tenere; → TENOR 