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Glite Dictionary
time sharing

time sharing

4.2
A system that lets many people use one computer at the same time
  • noun
  • /taɪm ˈʃɛrɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : compartición de tiempo
  • With time sharing technology, several users can run programs on the same computer at the same time without interference.

He was providing the first time sharing systems for schools.

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Examples

  • He was providing the first time sharing systems for schools.

    Stanford

  • Ed Fredkin here is one of the three or four inventors of large scale time sharing computers.

  • That is why people went to time sharing a long time ago.

  • There actually was a time sharing OS for that, but it wasn't used really widely.

    Lex Fridman

  • You know, we tried to do the web earlier, but you know, the architecture was all wrong with time sharing and and mainframes and the like.

  • The university implemented a new time sharing system, allowing students to access resources on the central computer simultaneously.

  • In the 1970s, many businesses adopted time sharing to improve efficiency by letting multiple users operate from a single mainframe.

Synonyms

time-sharing
vstime sharing
  • Specialized
1 3.6

A way for several people to use one computer at the same time

has identical meaning but is written as a hyphenated form

Antonyms

one-person
58 3.3

A thing that only one person can use

Surface Forms

time sharing singular
time sharings plural

Morphology

time + sharing

There is a clear compositional link: 'time' + 'sharing' can be interpreted as the sharing of time or time-based allocation, so part of the meaning is derivable from the constituents. However, the precise technical sense—allocating computer resources so multiple users access a central computer simultaneously—is domain-specific and may not be predictable to an average B1 learner who only knows the words, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Time sharing comes from the simple idea of time and sharing: early systems let many people take turns at one big computer by giving each a short 'turn' to use it. That's why time sharing means letting several users use the same machine at once.