diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 441828e..741f15a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # @digitalbazaar/cborld ChangeLog
 
+## 8.0.1 - 2025-05-dd
+
+### Fixed
+- Ensure omitted `"@id"` values in term definitions are resolved using the
+  term key if possible (for keys that are CURIEs or absolute URLs).
+
 ## 8.0.0 - 2025-04-24
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/lib/ActiveContext.js b/lib/ActiveContext.js
index d07d4e3..d9b7605 100644
--- a/lib/ActiveContext.js
+++ b/lib/ActiveContext.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*!
- * Copyright (c) 2021-2024 Digital Bazaar, Inc. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2021-2025 Digital Bazaar, Inc. All rights reserved.
  */
 import {CborldError} from './CborldError.js';
 
@@ -155,19 +155,33 @@ function _resolveCurie({activeTermMap, context, possibleCurie}) {
 }
 
 function _resolveCuries({activeTermMap, context, newTermMap}) {
-  for(const def of newTermMap.values()) {
+  for(const [key, def] of newTermMap.entries()) {
     const id = def['@id'];
     const type = def['@type'];
     if(id !== undefined) {
       def['@id'] = _resolveCurie({
         activeTermMap, context, possibleCurie: id
       });
+    } else {
+      // if `key` is a CURIE/absolute URL, then "@id" can be computed
+      const resolved = _resolveCurie({
+        activeTermMap, context, possibleCurie: key
+      });
+      if(resolved.includes(':')) {
+        def['@id'] = resolved;
+      }
     }
     if(type !== undefined) {
       def['@type'] = _resolveCurie({
         activeTermMap, context, possibleCurie: type
       });
     }
+    if(typeof def['@id'] !== 'string') {
+      throw new CborldError(
+        'ERR_INVALID_TERM_DEFINITION',
+        `Invalid JSON-LD term definition for "${key}"; the "@id" value ` +
+        'could not be determined.');
+    }
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/ContextLoader.js b/lib/ContextLoader.js
index f9050d2..cc889d6 100644
--- a/lib/ContextLoader.js
+++ b/lib/ContextLoader.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*!
- * Copyright (c) 2021-2024 Digital Bazaar, Inc. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2021-2025 Digital Bazaar, Inc. All rights reserved.
  */
 import {FIRST_CUSTOM_TERM_ID, KEYWORDS_TABLE, reverseMap} from './tables.js';
 import {CborldError} from './CborldError.js';
@@ -114,11 +114,11 @@ export class ContextLoader {
       // normalize definition to an object
       if(typeof def === 'string') {
         def = {'@id': def};
-      } else if(!(typeof def === 'object' && typeof def['@id'] === 'string')) {
+      } else if(Object.prototype.toString.call(def) !== '[object Object]') {
         throw new CborldError(
           'ERR_INVALID_TERM_DEFINITION',
           `Invalid JSON-LD term definition for "${key}"; it must be ` +
-          'a string or an object with "@id".');
+          'a string or an object.');
       }
 
       // set term definition
diff --git a/tests/encode.spec.js b/tests/encode.spec.js
index 8aa942b..a958792 100644
--- a/tests/encode.spec.js
+++ b/tests/encode.spec.js
@@ -59,43 +59,41 @@ describe('cborld encode', () => {
       expect(cborldBytes).equalBytes('d9cb1d8202a0');
     });
 
-  it('should fail to encode with no typeTableLoader id found',
-    async () => {
-      const jsonldDocument = {};
-      let result;
-      let error;
-      try {
-        result = await encode({
-          jsonldDocument,
-          format: 'cbor-ld-1.0',
-          registryEntryId: 2,
-          typeTableLoader: _makeTypeTableLoader([])
-        });
-      } catch(e) {
-        error = e;
-      }
-      expect(result).to.eql(undefined);
-      expect(error?.code).to.eql('ERR_NO_TYPETABLE');
-    });
+  it('should fail to encode with no typeTableLoader id found', async () => {
+    const jsonldDocument = {};
+    let result;
+    let error;
+    try {
+      result = await encode({
+        jsonldDocument,
+        format: 'cbor-ld-1.0',
+        registryEntryId: 2,
+        typeTableLoader: _makeTypeTableLoader([])
+      });
+    } catch(e) {
+      error = e;
+    }
+    expect(result).to.eql(undefined);
+    expect(error?.code).to.eql('ERR_NO_TYPETABLE');
+  });
 
-  it('should fail with typeTable',
-    async () => {
-      const jsonldDocument = {};
-      let result;
-      let error;
-      try {
-        result = await encode({
-          jsonldDocument,
-          format: 'cbor-ld-1.0',
-          registryEntryId: 1,
-          typeTable: new Map()
-        });
-      } catch(e) {
-        error = e;
-      }
-      expect(result).to.eql(undefined);
-      expect(error?.name).to.eql('TypeError');
-    });
+  it('should fail with typeTable', async () => {
+    const jsonldDocument = {};
+    let result;
+    let error;
+    try {
+      result = await encode({
+        jsonldDocument,
+        format: 'cbor-ld-1.0',
+        registryEntryId: 1,
+        typeTable: new Map()
+      });
+    } catch(e) {
+      error = e;
+    }
+    expect(result).to.eql(undefined);
+    expect(error?.name).to.eql('TypeError');
+  });
 
   it('should encode an empty JSON-LD Document', async () => {
     const jsonldDocument = {};
@@ -151,6 +149,100 @@ describe('cborld encode', () => {
       expect(cborldBytes).equalBytes('d9cb1d821a3b9aca00a0');
     });
 
+  it('should fail with non-object term definition', async () => {
+    const CONTEXT_URL = 'urn:foo';
+    const CONTEXT = {
+      '@context': {
+        foo: []
+      }
+    };
+    const jsonldDocument = {
+      '@context': CONTEXT_URL,
+      foo: 'anything'
+    };
+
+    const documentLoader = url => {
+      if(url === CONTEXT_URL) {
+        return {
+          contextUrl: null,
+          document: CONTEXT,
+          documentUrl: url
+        };
+      }
+      throw new Error(`Refused to load URL "${url}".`);
+    };
+
+    const typeTable = new Map(TYPE_TABLE);
+
+    const contextTable = new Map(STRING_TABLE);
+    contextTable.set(CONTEXT_URL, 0x8000);
+    typeTable.set('context', contextTable);
+
+    let result;
+    let error;
+    try {
+      result = await encode({
+        jsonldDocument,
+        format: 'cbor-ld-1.0',
+        registryEntryId: 2,
+        documentLoader,
+        typeTableLoader: () => typeTable
+      });
+    } catch(e) {
+      error = e;
+    }
+    expect(result).to.eql(undefined);
+    expect(error?.name).to.eql('CborldError');
+  });
+
+  it('should fail with non-CURIE term with no "@id"', async () => {
+    const CONTEXT_URL = 'urn:foo';
+    const CONTEXT = {
+      '@context': {
+        nonCurie: {
+          '@type': 'urn:anything'
+        }
+      }
+    };
+    const jsonldDocument = {
+      '@context': CONTEXT_URL,
+      nonCurie: 'anything'
+    };
+
+    const documentLoader = url => {
+      if(url === CONTEXT_URL) {
+        return {
+          contextUrl: null,
+          document: CONTEXT,
+          documentUrl: url
+        };
+      }
+      throw new Error(`Refused to load URL "${url}".`);
+    };
+
+    const typeTable = new Map(TYPE_TABLE);
+
+    const contextTable = new Map(STRING_TABLE);
+    contextTable.set(CONTEXT_URL, 0x8000);
+    typeTable.set('context', contextTable);
+
+    let result;
+    let error;
+    try {
+      result = await encode({
+        jsonldDocument,
+        format: 'cbor-ld-1.0',
+        registryEntryId: 2,
+        documentLoader,
+        typeTableLoader: () => typeTable
+      });
+    } catch(e) {
+      error = e;
+    }
+    expect(result).to.eql(undefined);
+    expect(error?.name).to.eql('CborldError');
+  });
+
   it('should encode xsd dateTime when using a prefix', async () => {
     const CONTEXT_URL = 'urn:foo';
     const CONTEXT = {
@@ -195,6 +287,50 @@ describe('cborld encode', () => {
     expect(cborldBytes).equalBytes('d9cb1d8202a20019800018661a6070bb5f');
   });
 
+  it('should pass with CURIE term with no "@id"', async () => {
+    const CONTEXT_URL = 'urn:foo';
+    const CONTEXT = {
+      '@context': {
+        arbitraryPrefix: 'http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#',
+        ex: 'https://test.example#',
+        'ex:foo': {
+          '@type': 'arbitraryPrefix:dateTime'
+        }
+      }
+    };
+    const date = '2021-04-09T20:38:55Z';
+    const jsonldDocument = {
+      '@context': CONTEXT_URL,
+      'ex:foo': date
+    };
+
+    const documentLoader = url => {
+      if(url === CONTEXT_URL) {
+        return {
+          contextUrl: null,
+          document: CONTEXT,
+          documentUrl: url
+        };
+      }
+      throw new Error(`Refused to load URL "${url}".`);
+    };
+
+    const typeTable = new Map(TYPE_TABLE);
+
+    const contextTable = new Map(STRING_TABLE);
+    contextTable.set(CONTEXT_URL, 0x8000);
+    typeTable.set('context', contextTable);
+
+    const cborldBytes = await encode({
+      jsonldDocument,
+      format: 'cbor-ld-1.0',
+      registryEntryId: 2,
+      documentLoader,
+      typeTableLoader: () => typeTable
+    });
+    expect(cborldBytes).equalBytes('d9cb1d8202a20019800018681a6070bb5f');
+  });
+
   it('should encode xsd dateTime with type table when possible', async () => {
     const CONTEXT_URL = 'urn:foo';
     const CONTEXT = {