month

[muhnth]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR month ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Also called calendar month. any of the twelve parts, as January or February, into which the calendar year is divided.

the time from any day of one calendar month to the corresponding day of the next.

a period of four weeks or 30 days.

Also called solar month. one-twelfth of a solar or tropical year.

Also called lunar month. the period of a complete revolution of the moon around the earth, as the period between successive new moons (synodic month), equal to 29.531 days, or the period between successive conjunctions with a star (sidereal month), equal to 27.322 days, or the period between successive perigees (anomalistic month), equal to 27.555 days, or the period between successive similar nodes (nodical month or draconic month), equal to 27.212 days.

an unusually long period of time of indefinite length: I haven't seen him for months.

Idioms

a month of Sundays. Sunday¹(def 4).

Origin of month

before 900; Middle English; Old English mōnath; cognate with Old High German mānōd, Old Norse mānathr. See moon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for month

point, generation, past, second, turn, space, life, season, moment, date, day, present, stage, term, age, pace, while, future, era, occasion

Examples from the Web for month

Contemporary Examples of month

The month of May will see an Irish referendum on the legalization of same-sex marriage.
‘Only God’ Can Stop Gay Marriage
Tim Mak
January 6, 2015
The Daily Beast has followed some of the refugees who landed in Sicily a month ago.
Ghost Ships of the Mediterranean
Barbie Latza Nadeau
January 6, 2015
And with regular clients that see him at least twice a month, relationships inevitably form.
Career-Minded Women Turn to Male Escorts For No-Strings Fun and (Maybe) Sex
Aurora Snow
January 3, 2015
In 1956, Balenciaga and Givenchy banned the press from viewing their collections for a month to prevent counterfeiting.
The Big Business of Fashion Counterfeits
Lizzie Crocker
December 24, 2014
On one night earlier this month, the coalition launched 30 strikes on the town.
Did ISIS Shoot Down a Fighter Jet?
Jamie Dettmer, Christopher Dickey
December 24, 2014

Historical Examples of month

If there was rain, there would be enough water here for a month or more.
Explorations in Australia
John Forrest
He did apply, and at the end of a month, no answer had been returned to his communication.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
Never is the city so lovely as in this month of May, when all the trees are in the fullness of their foliage.
Ballads of a Bohemian
Robert W. Service
Why, inside two weeks he'll be fit as a fiddle, and inside a month he'll be his own self!
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
I was once in bed for a whole month, and found it very wearisome.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald

British Dictionary definitions for month

month

noun

one of the twelve divisions (calendar months) of the calendar year

a period of time extending from one date to a corresponding date in the next calendar month

a period of four weeks or of 30 days

the period of time (tropical month) taken by the moon to return to the same longitude after one complete revolution around the earth; 27.321 58 days (approximately 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 4.5 seconds)

the period of time (sidereal month) taken by the moon to make one complete revolution around the earth, measured between two successive conjunctions with a distant star; 27.321 66 days (approximately 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 11 seconds)

Also called: lunation the period of time (lunar or synodic month) taken by the moon to make one complete revolution around the earth, measured between two successive new moons; 29.530 59 days (approximately 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3 seconds)

a month of Sundays informal a long unspecified period

Related formsRelated adjective: mensal

Word Origin for month

Old English mōnath; related to Old High German mānōd, Old Norse mānathr; compare Gothic mena moon

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for month

Old English monað, from Proto-Germanic *menoth- (cf. Old Saxon manoth, Old Frisian monath, Middle Dutch manet, Dutch maand, Old High German manod, German Monat, Old Norse manaðr, Gothic menoþs "month"), related to *menon- "moon" (see moon (n.); the month was calculated from lunar phases). Its cognates mean only "month" in the Romance languages, but in Germanic generally continue to do double duty. Phrase a month of Sundays "a very long time" is from 1832 (roughly 7 and a half months, but never used literally).

Idioms and Phrases with month

month

In addition to the idiom beginning with month

month of Sundays, a

also see:

by the day (month)
(for months) on end