Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Purchase Commitment, Excluding Long-term Commitment
Aggregate purchase commitments	$ 415.6
Purchase commitments less than one year	$ 412.9
Warranty period	1 year
Product warranty accrual	$ 9.0	$ 7.9
Revenue deferrals related to extended warranties	$ 30.7	$ 27.4

Warranty period.

No definition available.

Name:	ter_WarrantyPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	ter_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of increase (decrease) in the extended product warranty liability. Excludes standard product warranties.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-Subparagraph (c)(3)-(4)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68068213&loc=d3e12565-110249

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ExtendedProductWarrantyAccrualPeriodIncreaseDecrease
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of increase (decrease) in the standard and extended product warranty liability.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68068213&loc=d3e12565-110249

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ProductWarrantyAccrualPeriodIncreaseDecrease
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PurchaseCommitmentExcludingLongtermCommitmentLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Minimum amount of purchase arrangement in which the entity has agreed to expend funds to procure goods or services from a supplier.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PurchaseObligation
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Minimum amount of purchase arrangement maturing in the next fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Includes, but not limited to, recorded and unrecorded purchase obligations, long-term purchase commitments, and short-term purchase commitments.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PurchaseObligationDueInNextTwelveMonths
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant