Timing terminology — complete instruction execution: A(n) ________________ is the total time for a microprocessor to fetch, decode, and execute one complete instruction (including all required sub-cycles).

Introduction / Context:
When analyzing performance or designing timing for peripherals, it is essential to distinguish between the overall instruction duration and the smaller bus activities that compose it. Textbooks and datasheets use precise terms to avoid confusion, especially with older microprocessors like the 8085 and 8086 families.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• An instruction is executed via multiple steps: fetch, decode, execute, memory/IO accesses.
• Each memory or I/O access may constitute a machine cycle.
• The total time aggregates all sub-cycles needed for that instruction.

Concept / Approach:
The instruction cycle is the time required to complete one instruction from fetch to completion. It may consist of one or more machine cycles (for example, opcode fetch, memory read, memory write, I/O read/write). A single machine cycle is a lower-level bus transaction, while the instruction cycle is the higher-level envelope covering all machine cycles for that instruction.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:
8085 timing charts show an instruction decomposed into multiple machine cycles, each further divided into T-states. Summing the machine cycles yields the instruction cycle time.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• machine cycle: One memory/IO access; not necessarily the whole instruction.
• timing cycle: Vague term, not standard for a complete instruction.
• write cycle: A specific type of machine cycle.
• bus turnaround cycle: A bus arbitration concept; not the whole instruction.

Common Pitfalls:
Equating a single fetch with the entire instruction; ignoring additional read/write cycles for operands and results that extend the instruction cycle.

Final Answer:
instruction cycle