TIMEFRAME

noun Also written time frame In US English: a period of time, an approximate time (originally a limited period during which something could be achieved). Etymology: Formed by compounding; in the original meaning, there was a sense of constraints forming a frame round the time during which something could be done. History and Usage: The term timeframe was originally used in the sixties, with very specific reference to a period of time on which definite starting and finishing constraints had been set, for example the schedule within which certain work was to be achieved. By the eighties, though, it had become a fashionable synonym for 'period' in general and started to spread outside US English. Thus a shipbuilder interviewed in a television documentary who said 'We built this ship in the 1976-7 timeframe' meant not that the ship had to be built to that schedule but that it was built in about 1976 or 1977. The result is that the word has changed its meaning from a very specific to an approximate period. Hubbard told us the MSO's plans will not impact his intention to launch his service in the 1991-93 timeframe. Satellite News 12 Feb. 1990, p. 3