leap year

See synonyms for leap year on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. (in the Gregorian calendar) a year that contains 366 days, with February 29 as an additional day: occurring in years whose last two digits are evenly divisible by four, except for centenary years not divisible by 400.

  2. a year containing an extra day or extra month in any calendar.

Origin of leap year

1
1350–1400; Middle English lepe yere

Words Nearby leap year

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use leap year in a sentence

  • It was also possible for there to be no leap years, since some years that are multiples of four — like 1900 and 2100 — are not leap years.

    Can You Cut The Cookies? | Zach Wissner-Gross | December 4, 2020 | FiveThirtyEight
  • Had the leap year been the second, third or fourth year in the interval — or if there had been no leap years — then none of the seven lettered days started a month more than eight times.

    Can You Cut The Cookies? | Zach Wissner-Gross | December 4, 2020 | FiveThirtyEight
  • We have read the article carefully, but the Member to whom this Leap-Year proposal was made is not mentioned.

  • Every year of which the figure is divisible by four is a leap-year.

    Astronomy for Amateurs | Camille Flammarion
  • It was leap-year when I was there—and seventeen young widows—the wives of a deceased Mormon—offered me their hearts and hands.

    The Complete Works of Artemus Ward | Charles Farrar Browne (AKA Artemus Ward)
  • Julius Cæsar gave to February 29 days in common years, and in leap-year 30.

    Our Calendar | George Nichols Packer
  • Now in leap-year the 29th day of February is the additional or intercalary day.

    Our Calendar | George Nichols Packer

British Dictionary definitions for leap year

leap year

noun
  1. a calendar year of 366 days, February 29 (leap day) being the additional day, that occurs every four years (those whose number is divisible by four) except for century years whose number is not divisible by 400. It offsets the difference between the length of the solar year (365.2422 days) and the calendar year of 365 days

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012