In this article, I study how terms convey meaning in discourse. To do this, I examine the roles terms play in the attribution of meaning to a text, in particular a specialised text. Within this particular framework, I use several theoretical models, constructed within terminology but also within lexical semantics, to elaborate a dynamic theory of specialised meaning in discourse. Central to this theory is the idea that terms do not possess a fixed meaning in discourse but rather a meaning which varies in at least two ways, between speakers, i.e., idiolectally, on the one hand and between contexts, thus contextually, on the other. I conclude by suggesting that it is difficult, within the framework of the interpretation of terms in text, to settle the debate amongst terminologists on the relation between linguistic meaning and concept.