pro tem
3
9.0
- idiom
- /proʊ tɛm/
- Formal
:
pro tempore
- During the interim, she was appointed pro tem to oversee the committee's activities.
- mayor pro tem
- president pro tem
- speaker pro tem
Examples
-
He will act as the chair pro tem until a permanent chair is elected.
-
We have three or four attorneys sitting pro tem and two retired judges.
Fiction book (1993) -
Inside, it was rigged with a pro tem judge and a Bible.
Fiction book (1997) -
One could argue that they were not the strongest team behind Campbell, so these jobs matter, whoever is elected pro tem.
Blog text (14) -
Myron Lowery has done an excellent job as mayor pro tem.
Blog text (24) -
Lieutenant Miller, United States Marine Corps... ...appointed defense counsel pro tem, sirs.
-
Current pro tem John Campbell of Windsor County wants to keep the job and says he has the votes, though senators have been increasingly vocal with complaints about how the Senate was run last session.
Blog text (14) -
Normally, the full leadership team is elected: pro tem, member of the powerful Committee on Committees, Senate majority leader, and assistant majority leader, but word is that only pro tem and the Committee on Committees member will be selected at this time.
Blog text (14) -
For now, Tippecanoe County Senior Judge Thomas Milligan—he retired in 2010 after 36 years behind the bench in Montgomery Circuit Court—is serving as pro tem.
Blog text (14) -
The senator served as president pro tem while the official leader was away.
Synonyms
222
3.2
For a short time and not permanent
106
3.4
For now until the situation changes
1
9.3
For a short time in an official job until a permanent person is chosen
How Temporary
Surface Forms
Morphology
pro + tem
The phrase is a Latin shortening (pro tempore) whose constituents are not productive English words for a B1 learner: 'pro' may be marginally familiar but 'tem' is not a standalone English word. The meaning 'for the time being' is a conventionalized, administrative borrowing rather than a transparent composition, so learners cannot reliably derive the sense from the parts.
Etymology
Pro tem comes from the Latin phrase pro tempore, which means 'for the time'. It was used in meetings when someone filled a job only for a short time, so today pro tem means 'temporarily'.