annals
Americannoun
-
a record of events, especially a yearly record, usually in chronological order.
- Synonyms:
- history, chronicles
-
historical records generally.
the annals of war.
- Synonyms:
- history, chronicles
-
a periodical publication containing the formal reports of an organization or learned field.
plural noun
-
yearly records of events, generally in chronological order
-
history or records of history in general
-
regular reports of the work of a society, learned body, etc
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of annals
1555–65; (< Middle French ) < Latin annālēs ( librī ) literally, yearly (books), plural of annālis continuing for a year, annual, equivalent to ann ( us ) a year + ālis -al 1
Explanation
Annals are chronological historical records. Some annals recount the achievements of war heroes; others, in the form of high school yearbooks, record historically terrible hairstyles. Annals comes from the Latin word annus, meaning year. As the word itself suggests, many annals are yearly records, but this is not always the case. You may encounter the word annals in the phrase “annals of history,” which refers not to one specific historical record but the collection of all recorded history. Scholarly societies often refer to their regular reports as annals, as in the Annals of the International Society for Porcupine Studies.
Vocabulary lists containing annals
Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Vocabulary from "John L. O'Sullivan on 'Manifest Destiny' " from 1839
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The Fellowship of the Ring
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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.
And then they were gone, leaving a sense of wonder and mystique in their wake that remains unparalleled in the annals of popular music — perhaps even for the whole of Western art.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
“Houston, we have a problem” may be the most famous line in the annals of spaceflight.
From Slate ● Mar. 13, 2026
Cooling their heels in a Venetian jail in 1755, Giacomo Casanova and the prisoner in the cell above him contrived one of the more imaginative escapes in the annals of criminology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
Franjo von Allmen may have written his name into the annals of Olympic alpine skiing, but the grounded Swiss racer said ski history was wasted on him.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
One of the more incredible feats in the annals of mountaineering, it was known forever after simply as The Belay.*
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
