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

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.

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

A trio of beloved bluegrass albums, “The Grass Is Blue,” “Little Sparrow” and “Halos & Horns,” around the turn of the millennium reestablished her as a performer with extensive roots in rural America.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

Cash levels at 3.5% have rarely been this low since the turn of the millennium and the allocation to stocks is also a five-year high.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

Gregory thinks of how Iceland's first settlers must have felt witnessing such a phenomena more than a millennium ago, a time of mythological rather than scientific explanation.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

At 2.6 points, his 2018 reelection margin marked Texas’ closest statewide race this millennium.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

Sky lizards are already scurrying into holes inside the trunks, guided by some instinct they’ve known from a millennium of eight-hour wind cycles.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

This fog-shrouded patch of coastal forest in the heart of Yurok Country was tended by the tribe for millennia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Today’s Western culture isn’t the endpoint of a straight line from the poetry spoken around the Aegean three millennia ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Cultivated for millennia, Armenia's famed apricots were known to ancient Romans as the "Armenian apple."

From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026

Although Cave 338 was not used as a permanent settlement, the repeated returns over millennia suggest that the location held significant value for prehistoric groups.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 3, 2026

Within a few millennia that single ancestral Polynesian society had spawned on those diverse islands a range of diverse daughter societies, from hunter-gatherer tribes to proto-empires.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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

Cody, 41, is a millennial at the forefront of an art form harking back millenniums — at once building on tradition and joyously venturing beyond it.

From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 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

Desert locusts for millenniums have been the scourge of farmers across northern Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 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