year

[ yeer ]

/ yɪər /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: year / years on Thesaurus.com

noun

a period of 365 or 366 days, in the Gregorian calendar, divided into 12 calendar months, now reckoned as beginning Jan. 1 and ending Dec. 31 (calendar year, or civil year ).Compare common year, leap year.

a period of approximately the same length in other calendars.

a space of 12 calendar months calculated from any point: This should have been finished a year ago.

Astronomy.

Also called lunar year. a division of time equal to 12 lunar months.
tropical year.
sidereal year.

the time in which any planet completes a revolution round the sun: the Martian year.

a full round of the seasons.

a period out of every 12 months, devoted to a certain pursuit, activity, or the like: the academic year.

years,

age.
old age: a man of years.
time; period: the years of hardship and frustration.
an unusually long period of time of indefinite length: I haven't spoken to them in years.

a group of students entering school or college, graduating, or expecting to graduate in the same year; class.

QUIZ

ALL IN FAVO(U)R OF THIS BRITISH VS. AMERICAN ENGLISH QUIZ

There's an ocean of difference between the way people speak English in the US vs. the UK. Are your language skills up to the task of telling the difference? Let's find out!

Question 1 of 7

True or false? British English and American English are only different when it comes to slang words.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms about year

a year and a day, a period specified as the limit of time in various legal matters, as in determining a right or a liability, to allow for a full year by any way of counting.

from the year one, for a very long time; as long as anyone remembers: He's been with the company from the year one.

year in and year out, regularly through the years; continually: Year in and year out they went to Florida for the winter.Also year in, year out.

Origin of year

First recorded before 900; Middle English yeer, Old English gēar; cognate with Dutch jaar, German Jahr, Old Norse ār, Gothic jēr, Greek hôros “year,” hṓrā “season, part of a day, hour”

OTHER WORDS FROM year

mul·ti·year, adjective

Words nearby year

Yeager, yeah, yealing, yean, yeanling, year, year-around, yearbook, Yeardley, year-end, year in, year out

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use year in a sentence

The Singapore launch was pegged for the first half of this year, pushed back due to coronavirus.
‘We’re about hiring journalists’: Insider Inc. launches third global news hub in Singapore|Lucinda Southern|September 17, 2020|Digiday
The University of Washington’s Institute on Health Metrics estimates that there will be nearly 413,000 deaths by the end of the year.
Trump blames blue states for the coronavirus death toll — but most recent deaths have been in red states|Philip Bump|September 16, 2020|Washington Post
To best compare today’s StarTech to its past versions, I look at its metrics on September 30 each year from 2015 to 2019, and those numbers as of September 15 of this year.
Will tech stocks stumble or slide? What the fundamentals tell us|Shawn Tully|September 16, 2020|Fortune
No chief executive “should sit in their chair for dozens of years,” she says.
Why one of the world’s few female bank CEOs decided to step down|Claire Zillman, reporter|September 16, 2020|Fortune

Today’s announcements won’t hit the Pro, which got an update earlier in the year.
Apple just announced a new iPad, iPad Air, and Apple Watch Series 6|Stan Horazek|September 15, 2020|Popular-Science
However, more than 20 players on the ballot this year were probably worthy of being enshrined in Cooperstown.
Conservative Curt Says His Politics, Not His Pitching, Kept Him Out of the Hall of Fame|Ben Jacobs|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The influential al Qaeda propagandist, who was born in New Mexico, died in a U.S. drone strike later that year.
France Kills Charlie Hebdo Murderers|Nico Hines|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Eric Garcetti succeeded Villaraigosa and has received high marks in his first year and a half on the job.
The Golden State Preps for the ‘Red Wedding’ of Senate Races|David Freedlander|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Grindr introduced the feature themselves in October the same year and called it ‘tribes.’
Grindr’s Trans Dating Problem|David Levesley|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In the last year, her fusion exercise class has attracted a cult following and become de rigueur among the celebrity set.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze|Lizzie Crocker|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In the year of misery, of agony and suffering in general he had endured, he had settled upon one theory.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
The great plague of this and the subsequent year broke out at St. Giles, London.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
Twice a year the formal invitation was sent out by the old nobleman to his only son, and to his two nephews.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
After about the forty-fifth year it becomes gradually less; after seventy-five years it is about one-half the amount given.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
The clink of the stone-masons' chisels had resounded year after year from morning till night.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills

British Dictionary definitions for year

year

/ (jɪə) /

noun

Also called: civil year the period of time, the calendar year, containing 365 days or in a leap year 366 days. It is based on the Gregorian calendar, being divided into 12 calendar months, and is reckoned from January 1 to December 31

a period of twelve months from any specified date, such as one based on the four seasons

a specific period of time, usually occupying a definite part or parts of a twelve-month period, used for some particular activitya school year

Also called: astronomical year, tropical year the period of time, the solar year, during which the earth makes one revolution around the sun, measured between two successive vernal equinoxes: equal to 365.242 19 days

the period of time, the sidereal year, during which the earth makes one revolution around the sun, measured between two successive conjunctions of a particular distant star: equal to 365.256 36 days

the period of time, the lunar year, containing 12 lunar months and equal to 354.3671 days

the period of time taken by a specified planet to complete one revolution around the sunthe Martian year

(plural) age, esp old agea man of his years should be more careful

(plural) timein years to come

a group of pupils or students, who are taught or study together, divided into classes at schoolthey are the best year we've ever had for history

the year dot informal as long ago as can be remembered

year and a day English law a period fixed by law to ensure the completion of a full year. It is applied for certain purposes, such as to determine the time within which wrecks must be claimed

year in, year out regularly or monotonously, over a long period

Other words from year

Related adjective: annual

Word Origin for year

Old English gear; related to Gothic jēr, Old Saxon, Old High German jār, Old Norse ār year, Polish jar springtime, Latin hōrnus of this year

usage for year

In writing spans of years, it is important to choose a style that avoids ambiguity. The practice adopted in this dictionary is, in four-figure dates, to specify the last two digits of the second date if it falls within the same century as the first: 1801–08; 1850–51; 1899–1901 . In writing three-figure bc dates, it is advisable to give both dates in full: 159–156 bc, not 159–56 bc unless of course the span referred to consists of 103 years rather than three years. It is also advisable to specify bc or ad in years under 1000 unless the context makes this self-evident

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with year

year

In addition to the idiom beginning with year

year in, year out

also see:

all year round
along in years
by the day (year)
donkey's years

year

Idioms about year

Origin of year

OTHER WORDS FROM year

Words nearby year

Words related to year

How to use year in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for year

Other words from year

Word Origin for year

usage for year

Other Idioms and Phrases with year