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new year

American  

noun

  1. the year approaching or newly begun.

  2. New Year's Day.

  3. (initial capital letters) the first day or few days of a year in any of various calendars.


New Year British  

noun

  1. the first day or days of the year in various calendars, usually celebrated as a holiday

"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

Etymology

Origin of new year

Middle English word dating back to 1150–1200

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.

Rand was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1964 and was awarded an MBE in the 1965 New Year Honours List.

From BBC

On a warm Sunday afternoon in February, the Huntington Library was packed with Lunar New Year festivities and early spring fever.

From Los Angeles Times

Markets will also look to the subindex tracking service activity after it got a boost from the Lunar New Year holiday the prior month, and watch for signs of improvement in the construction subindex.

From The Wall Street Journal

The island of Qeshm, where 42-year-old Sadeq is based, enjoyed a tourism boom in recent years, but saw few visitors over the usually busy Nowruz holidays marking the Iranian New Year in March.

From Barron's

My final advice: Do your taxes in January when everyone else is recovering from their Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year celebrations.

From MarketWatch