millennium

American  

[mi-len-ee-uhm] / mɪˈlɛn i əm /

noun

• millenniums,
  plural
• millennia
  plural

1. a period of 1,000 years.

   This great stone monument has seen it all—hardship, plenty, and everything in between—over a millennium and a half.

2. the year 2000, or the turn of the 21st century.

   In 1995, approaching the millennium, the city covered nearly 67,000 acres and had a population of over 1 million.

3. Christianity. the millennium, the period of 1,000 years during which Christ will reign on earth, as an interpretation of a vision set forth by the apostle John in the book of Revelation. Also the Millennium

4. a period of general righteousness and happiness, especially in the indefinite future.

5. a thousandth anniversary.

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millennium British  

/ mɪˈlɛnɪəm /

noun

1. Christianity the period of a thousand years of Christ's awaited reign upon earth

2. a period or cycle of one thousand years

3. a time of peace and happiness, esp in the distant future

4. a thousandth anniversary

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millennium Cultural  

1. A period of a thousand years foretold in the Book of Revelation. During the millennium, those who have been faithful to Jesus and who have not worshiped the Antichrist will reign with Jesus over the Earth. According to the Book of Revelation, the millennium will precede the final battle for control of the universe; Judgment Day will come afterward.

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Discover More

Figuratively, a “millennium” is a period of great justice and happiness on Earth.

The meaning of the Bible's (see also Bible) words about the millennium has been much debated by Christians (see also Christian). Prophecies about the millennium are part of the basic doctrine of several denominations, including Jehovah's Witnesses.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• millennialist
  noun
• millennial
  adjective
• millennially
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• millennia
  plural
• millenniums
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of millennium

First recorded in 1630–40; from New Latin, equivalent to Latin mill(e) “a thousand” + -ennium, extracted from biennium, triennium, etc.

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Explanation

A decade means ten years, a century means a hundred, and millennium means a thousand. Think: a decade of marriage, the new millennium. In Latin, in the Romance languages, and in the metric system, mille refers to a thousand. A millimeter is a thousandth of a meter, a milliliter a thousandth of a liter, a millennium is a thousand years. Think of the number "one million" as a thousand thousands, and you'll get the idea.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

millennium millennia millenniums

By the first millennium B.C.E., it ranked among the “five grains,” the staple crops recognized in early Chinese texts.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

Barabak: It’s a long way — about a millennium, as you said — from here to November 2028.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

The vast Theban necropolis, comprising an area of around 10km², was Egypt’s main royal and elite cemetery for half a millennium, from ca.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026

GUILIN, China—More than a millennium ago, the Tang dynasty writer Han Yu said of Guilin’s landscape, “The river forms a blue-green silk ribbon, the mountains are like jade hairpins.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

More surprising still, the ceramics in the farm’s terra preta indicate that the soil has retained its nutrients for as much as a millennium.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Chinook salmon have been laying eggs in gravelly nests in the Sacramento River for millennia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

This fossilised hunk of whale bone has lain hidden in the earth on Portmuck Beach for possibly millennia.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

For millennia, people have transformed landscapes, forcing wildlife to adjust to cities, farms, roads, and other human activity.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026

Language, on the other hand, dates back only about a hundred millennia, a shorthand humans created to process and relay concepts great and small.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Perhaps it originally represented the important insight that the sky nurtures the Earth; if so, that meaning seems to have been forgotten millennia ago.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Like the steady drip-drip-drip of water on stone, which over millenniums reduces a monolith to sand, human contact will have its way.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2024

Three millenniums ago, a small, prosperous farming community briefly flourished in the freshwater marshes of eastern England.

From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2024

It would guide scientists in their understanding of our still-unfolding present for generations, perhaps even millenniums, to come.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 9, 2024

After a religious revolt against robots millenniums before the start of the series, the use of intelligent machines was banned.

From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2024

Collectively, memorable events have caused the ever-quickening pace of change during the past five millenniums, which begin with what we call the ancient world.

From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson

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