time frame
noun
Did you know?
time frame or timeframe?
Should time frame be written as one word or two? At present, it is most commonly styled as two words with no hyphen in between.
Compounds, or “words consisting of components that are words,” come in three varieties: open (two words with a space between them, such as lima bean), hyphenated (two words with a hyphen between them, such as runner-up), and closed (one word, such as rowboat). In some cases, competing compound stylings appear in different publications. This is generally acceptable as long as the spelling remains consistent throughout a book or periodical.
Compounds have a tendency to move from open to closed as time goes by, and our evidence suggests that time frame is headed in this direction. At this point, however, the open compound is far more prevalent.
Examples of time frame in a Sentence
Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes.com, 2 June 2025
State-by-state trends also show uneven disenrollment rates, with Utah reporting disenrollment rates as high as 31 percent between March 2023 and December 2024, followed by Texas with 30 percent, while South Dakota saw a 2 percent decrease in enrollment in the same time frame.
—Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 May 2025
Having donated nearly $180,000 to members of Congress and affiliated PACs since 2020, the firm has had hundreds of in-person meetings, phone calls, emails, and text exchanges with congressional sources in that time frame.
—Robert Schmad, The Washington Examiner, 25 May 2025
And of the 20% of backups that survive, only 50% will be usable within a realistic time frame.
—William Jones, USA Today, 23 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for time frame
Cite this Entry
“Time frame.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/time%20frame. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share