January
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does January mean? January is the first month of the calendar year. It has 31 days and is followed by February. It follows December, the twelfth and final month of the previous year. January is closely associated with its position at the beginning of the year. January 1 is known as New Year’s Day due to being the first day of the year. For many people, January is a time of making New Year’s resolutions—decisions to do something or make some change in the new year, especially to change or start some habit or behavior. For example, many people start new exercise routines or diets in January. In the Northern Hemisphere, January is a winter month. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is a summer month. In the U. S., the most notable holiday in January after New Year’s Day is Martin Luther King Day, which is observed on the third Monday of the month. The inaugurations of new U. S. presidents and members of Congress are also held in January. Example: People treat January as a time of new beginnings and life changes, but I like to remind them that they can do that during any month.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of January
before 1000; Middle English < Latin, noun use of Jānuārius, equivalent to Jānu ( s ) Janus + -ārius -ary; replacing Middle English Genever, Jeniver < Anglo-French, Old French Genever, Jenever < Latin, as above; replacing Old English Januarius < Latin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Antigua and Barbuda recruited more than 120 nurses from Ghana in case it might “have to get rid of all of the Cuban nurses and doctors suddenly,” Prime Minister Gaston Browne said in January.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 9, 2026
That information was passed from the commission to the Metropolitan Police in January this year.
From BBC • Jul. 9, 2026
On OpenRouter, a platform that routes requests across different AI models, Google, Anthropic and OpenAI's combined share of usage dropped from 55 percent to 33 percent between January and June.
From Barron's • Jul. 9, 2026
The fight over finances allegedly stemmed from a January 2025 car crash.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 8, 2026
By January 2007, in their tiny $30 million fund, they owned $110 million in credit default swaps on the double-A tranche of asset-backed CDOs.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
