YEAR definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary (2025)

COBUILD frequency band

year

(jɪəʳ )

Word forms: plural years

1.countable noun A1

A year is a period of twelve months or 365 or 366 days, beginning on the first of January and ending on the thirty-first of December.

The year was 1840.

We had an election last year.

...the number of people on the planet by the year 2050.

2. See also leap year

3.countable noun A1

A year is any period of twelve months.

The museums attract more than two and a half million visitors a year.

She's done quite a bit of work this past year.

The school has been empty for ten years.

Synonyms: twelve months, calendar year, twelve month period More Synonyms of year

4.countable noun A1

Year is used to refer to the age of a person. For example, if someone or something is twenty years old or twenty years of age, they have lived or existed for twenty years.

He's 58 years old.

I've been in trouble since I was eleven years of age. [+ of]

This column is ten years old today.

5.countable noun A2

A school year or academic year is the period of time in each twelve months when schools or universities are open and students are studying there. In Britain and the United States, the school year starts in September.

...the 1990/91 academic year.

The twins didn't have to repeat their second year at school. [+ at]

6.countable noun

You can refer to someone who is, for example, in their first year at school or university as a first year.

[British]

The first years and second years got a choice of French, German and Spanish.

7.countable noun

A financial or business year is an exact period of twelve months which businesses or institutions use as a basis for organizing their finances.

[business]

He announced big tax increases for the next two financial years.

The company admits it will make a loss for the year ending September.

8.plural noun B1

You can use years to emphasize that you are referring to a long time.

[emphasis]

I haven't laughed so much in years.

It took me years to fully recover.

People hold onto letters for years and years.

9.plural noun [poss NOUN, usually NOUN preposition]

You can refer to the time you spend in a place or doing an activity as your years there or your years of doing that activity.

The joy turned to tragedy during his years in Cyprus.

...his years as Director of the Manchester City Art Gallery.

10. See also calendar year, fiscal year

11.

See year after year

12.

See year by year

13.

See year in, year out

14.

See a man of his years/a woman of her years

15.

See put years on sb

16.

See all year round

17.

See take years off sb

18. donkey's years

More Synonyms of year

British English pronunciation

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American English pronunciation

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year in British English

(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

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 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 365.24219 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 365.25636 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 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.(plural)

a long time

It took me years to recover.

I haven't laughed so much in years.

People hold onto letters for years and years.

I hadn't seen him for years

11.

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

12. See put years on

13. See take years off

14. See the year dot

15. See year and a day

16. See year in, year out

▶Related adjective: annual

▶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

Word origin

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

COBUILD frequency band

year in American English

(jɪr )

noun

a period of 365 days (in a leap year, 366 days) divided into 12 months and regarded in the Gregorian calendar as beginning Jan. 1 and ending the following Dec. 31

a period of more or less the same length in other calendars

the period (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds of mean solar time) spent by the sun in making its apparent passage from vernal equinox to vernal equinox: the year of the seasons

: also tropical year, equinoctial year, solar year

the period (365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 9.54 seconds of mean solar time) spent by the sun in its apparent passage from a fixed star and back to the same position again: it is the true period of the earth's revolution, and the difference in time between this and the tropical year is due to the precession of the equinoxes

: also sidereal year

a period of 12 lunar months, as in the Jewish calendar

: also lunar year

the period of time occupied by any planet in making one complete revolution from perihelion to perihelion: for the earth this period is 365 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes, and 53 seconds: it is slightly longer than the sidereal year due to the extra time needed to reach an advancing perihelion, the lag being caused by the gravitational pull of the other planets

: also anomalistic year

a period of 12 calendar months reckoned from any date

a year from today

a calendar year of a specified number in a particular era

the year 500 b.c.

a particular annual period of less than 365 days

a school year

9. [pl.]

age

old for his years

time; esp., a long time

he died years ago

Idioms:

year after year

year by year

year in, year out

Word origin

ME yere < OE gear, akin to Ger jahr < IE *yēro-, year, summer (> Gr hōros, time, year, OSlav jara, spring) < base *ei-, to go (> L ire, to go): basic sense “that which passes”

COBUILD frequency band

year in American English

(jɪər)

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

4.Astronomy

a. Also called: lunar year

a division of time equal to 12 lunar months

b. Also called: astronomical year, equinoctial year, solar year, tropical year

a division of time equal to about 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, representing the interval between one vernal equinox and the next

c. Also called: sidereal year

a division of time equal to the equinoctial year plus 20 minutes, representing the time required for the earth to complete one revolution around the sun, measured with relation to the fixed stars

Compare anomalistic 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

8. See years

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

10. See a year and a day

11. See from the year one

12. See year in and year out

Word origin

[bef. 900; ME yeer, OE gēar; c. D jaar, G Jahr, ON ār, Goth jēr, Gk hôros year, ho᷇rā season, part of a day, hour]

Examples of 'year' in a sentence

year

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These animals can live 25 to 30 years of age.

Smithsonian Mag (2017)

If the past is anything to judge by, the real impact of the 2016 year of revolution will not be fully understood until far in the future.

Times, Sunday Times (2016)

The next year was a year of revolutions.

Times, Sunday Times (2012)

For much of the year the index traded sideways or downwards.

Times, Sunday Times (2011)

We are of the same generation, born within a year of one another.

Times, Sunday Times (2011)

The aluminium price has risen about 55 per cent in two years.

Times, Sunday Times (2007)

Will it still be here in a year's time?

Times, Sunday Times (2011)

Despite this, he now enjoys a cordial relationship with the school and last year was asked to open his rebuilt old house.

Times, Sunday Times (2008)

These messages became more and more urgent through the subsequent years.

Royal Society Biography and Memoirs (2022)

From his second year on he lived in college.

Royal Society Biography and Memoirs (2022)

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year

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