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Which of these flowers is an annual?

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annual

American  

[an-yoo-uhl] / ˈæn ju əl /

adjective

1. of, for, or pertaining to a year; yearly.

   annual salary.

2. occurring or returning once a year.

   an annual celebration.

3. Botany. living only one growing season, as beans or corn.

4. performed or executed during a year.

   the annual course of the sun.

5. Entomology. living or lasting but one season or year, as certain insects or colonies of insects.

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noun

• annuals
  plural

1. Botany. a plant living only one year or season.

2. a book, report, etc., published annually.

annual British  

/ ˈænjʊəl /

adjective

1. occurring, done, etc, once a year or every year; yearly

   an annual income

2. lasting for a year

   an annual subscription

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noun

1. a plant that completes its life cycle in less than one year Compare perennial biennial

2. a book, magazine, etc, published once every year

annual Scientific  

/ ăn′yo̅o̅-əl /

1. Completing a life cycle in one growing season.

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1. An annual plant. Annuals germinate, blossom, produce seed, and die in one growing season. They are common in environments with short growing seasons. Most desert plants are annuals, germinating and flowering after rainfall. Many common weeds, wild flowers, garden flowers, and vegetables are annuals. Examples of annuals include tomatoes, corn, wheat, sunflowers, petunias, and zinnias.

2. Compare biennial perennial

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• interannual
  adjective
• annually
  adverb
• interannually
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• annuals
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of annual

1350–1400; < Late Latin annuālis, equivalent to Latin annu ( us ) yearly (derivative of annus circuit of the sun, year) + -ālis -al ¹; replacing Middle English annuel < Anglo-French < Latin

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Explanation

When something is annual, it happens once a year. An annual holiday party should be a time for fun, but it also can be a sad yearly reminder of the passage of time. An annual event happens every year: "I always forget to take sunglasses to my annual eye exam and am left wearing those horrible disposable shades." Annual earnings are made over the course of a year: "His annual income is on a steady decline." And an annual plant lives for only a year: "My neighbor Shirley always plants the most garishly bright annuals instead of more subdued perennials." Whether it's eye exams, income, or plants, you can expect to see something annual again in about 365 days.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

annual annuals

It comes after MI5 chief Sir Kevin McCallum said in his annual speech earlier this week that threats from foreign states, including Russia and Iran, had quadrupled in the last decade.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

Japan tightened rules for permanent residency this month, with foreigners required to have higher annual incomes and greater fluency in Japanese.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026

Speaking Friday at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s annual meeting in Bangkok, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh declined to share any expectations for the central bank’s upcoming rate-setting meeting.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

The trend measure—a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts—was little changed for the month, nudging up 0.6% to 250,411, Canada’s national housing agency said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

She’d been making posters for the annual spaghetti dinner fund-raiser.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Where there had been a jungle of weeds and vines, perennials and annuals bloomed thanks to avid volunteer gardeners and contributions from locals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025

And the exception was the 80th anniversary of the first book, when the Dundee-based publisher released The Broons and Oor Wullie annuals in the same year.

From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2023

Hardy annuals, such as poppies, larkspur, love-in-a-mist and bachelor buttons, benefit from a winter chill and bloom earlier than a spring sowing.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 25, 2023

First they arrive early in the growing season, when moisture can prompt invasive Mediterranean annuals to push up quickly.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2023

Because these seeds are edible, human beings took these annuals and helped them spread across the globe.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

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Related Words

• yearlong

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