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

They were not able to finish the project within the established time frame.

Recent Examples on the Web There is currently no time frame for implementing it. — Samantha Hogan, ProPublica, "Lawyers Who Were Ineligible to Handle Serious Criminal Charges Were Given Thousands of These Cases Anyway," 23 Feb. 2021 The utility, which serves northeast and central Minnesota, aims to be 100% carbon-free by 2050 — a time frame that's 10 years longer than what Walz requested. — Jennifer Bjorhus, Star Tribune, "Gov. Tim Walz pushes again for carbon-free electricity in Minnesota to avert climate crisis," 21 Jan. 2021 That was the time frame in which the country was convulsed by protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. — Devlin Barrett, Anchorage Daily News, "2020 saw an unprecedented spike in U.S. homicides, from big cities to small towns," 31 Dec. 2020 The 10 days is the time frame given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in which someone with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms remains infectious with the virus. — al, "For some Alabama schools, it’s home before and after the holidays as COVID cases surge," 10 Dec. 2020 Covid-19 and the uncertain outcome of the U.S. presidential election had led companies to think twice before tapping the market, while the holiday calendar in the remainder of the year means there is a shorter time frame to get deals done. — Olivia Carville, Bloomberg.com, "Airbnb Plans to Unveil Its Financials Next Thursday Ahead of IPO," 5 Nov. 2020 But in Indiana, which ranks highly in the country for coal consumption, this is a tight time frame. — Sarah Bowman, The Indianapolis Star, "8 things you should know if you're voting with the environment in mind," 30 Oct. 2020 Be ready for the woods to explode today—because this is the time frame when bucks switch from merely looking for and scent-checking does to actually running them down. — Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, "The 7 Best Days of the 2020 Whitetail Deer Rut," 20 Oct. 2020 Boston and Foxborough are expected to see 5 inches, and communities north of Boston and in the Merrimack Valley are likely to see 3 inches in that time frame, forecasters said. — Amanda Kaufman, BostonGlobe.com, "Maps: Here’s how much snow to expect in Massachusetts on Super Bowl Sunday," 5 Feb. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'time frame.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.