year
noun
Simple meaning
A period of time containing 365 days.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
yirIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈjɪɹ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
“Next year will be a very busy year.”
The period of time that it takes for a planet (as, e.g., Earth or Mars) to make a complete revolution around the sun
“A Martian year takes 687 of our days.”
The length of a year as marked by a calendar, 365 or 366 days in the Gregorian calendar; a calendar year.
A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
A period between set dates that mark a year, such as from January 1 to December 31 by the Gregorian calendar, from Tishri 1 to Elul 29 by the Jewish calendar, and from Muharram 1 to Dhu al-Hijjah 29 or 30 by the Islamic calendar.
The time taken for the Earth to return to the same position along the ecliptic, completing a full cycle of seasons; a tropical year or solar year.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
Used this way, year is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Next year will be a very busy year.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use year
- “A Martian year takes 687 of our days.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A reference book that is published regularly once every year.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
As long ago as anyone can remember.
Operating or continuing throughout the year.
The end of a calendar year.
Any year of the Christian era.
Operating or continuing throughout the year.
The time for the earth to make one revolution around the sun, measured between two vernal equinoxes.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The first day of the year.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.