year

American  

[yeer] / jɪər /

noun

• years
  plural

1. 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.

2. a period of approximately the same length in other calendars.

3. a space of 12 calendar months calculated from any point.

   This should have been finished a year ago.

4. Astronomy.

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

   2. tropical year.

   3. sidereal year.

5. the time in which any planet completes a revolution round the sun.

   the Martian year.

6. a full round of the seasons.

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

   the academic year.

8. years,

   1. age.

   2. old age.

      a man of years.

   3. time; period.

      the years of hardship and frustration.

   4. an unusually long period of time of indefinite length.

      I haven't spoken to them in years.

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

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idioms

1. year in and year out, regularly through the years; continually: Also year in, year out.

   Year in and year out they went to Florida for the winter.

2. 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.

3. 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 British  

/ jɪə /

noun

1. 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

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

3. a specific period of time, usually occupying a definite part or parts of a twelve-month period, used for some particular activity

   a school year

4. 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

5. 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

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

7. the period of time taken by a specified planet to complete one revolution around the sun

   the Martian year

8. (plural) age, esp old age

   a man of his years should be more careful

9. (plural) time

   in years to come

10. a group of pupils or students, who are taught or study together, divided into classes at school

    they are the best year we've ever had for history

11. informal as long ago as can be remembered

12. 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

13. regularly or monotonously, over a long period

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year More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing year

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

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Usage

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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• multiyear
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• years
  plural

Etymology

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”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

year years

A relative low income family is one living on less than 60% of the median national household income for that year.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

As a result, Barbera d'Asti producers have decided to limit volumes of the variety collected this year from nine tonnes to 8.5 tonnes per hectare.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

One registered attendee led a project dedicated to shrimp welfare, aiming to cast a spotlight on the hundreds of billions of shrimp that are farmed each year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

"It's time to take responsibility for making bold choices, even unpopular ones," he said earlier this year.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

“Now. Right away. Oh, very soon! By the first of the year, Corrie, we will be out of prison!”

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

About five years later, when Clive was 46, he was diagnosed with young onset dementia.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

For 45 turgid minutes in Slovenia, some in the Tartan Army might have reimagined the Steve Clarke years as a time of plenty, the halcyon era of ambitious football when Scotland were an all-electric thrill-fest.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

The letter is dated 12 August 1982, eight years before Harwood was born.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Helen, now 75, said if Clive had received an earlier diagnosis they could have had "at least two years when we weren't fighting all the time".

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Medical science in 1848 knows very little about bacteria, even though they were first seen through microscopes nearly two hundred years before.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

Related Words

• age
• date
• day
• era
• future
• generation
• hour
• life
• moment
• month
• occasion
• pace
• past
• point
• present
• season
• second
• space
• stage
• term