year (years plural )
1 n-count 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.
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leap year
2 n-count 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.
3 n-count 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.
num N adj/prep
He's 58 years old..., I've been in trouble since I was eleven years of age..., This column is ten years old today.
4 n-count 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.
usu adj/ord N
...the 1990/91 academic year..., The twins didn't have to repeat their second year at school.
5 n-count You can refer to someone who is, for example, in their first year at school or university as a first year.
(BRIT) ord N
The first years and second years got a choice of French, German and Spanish.
6 n-count 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) with supp
He announced big tax increases for the next two financial years..., The company admits it will make a loss for the year ending September.
7 n-plural You can use years to emphasize that you are referring to a long time., (emphasis)
(=age)
I haven't laughed so much in years..., It took me years to fully recover...
8
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calendar year
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fiscal year
9 If something happens year after year, it happens regularly every year.
year after year phrase PHR after v
Regulars return year after year...
10 If something changes year by year, it changes gradually each year.
year by year phrase PHR after v
This problem has increased year by year..., The department has been shrinking year by year because of budget cuts.
11 If you say something happens all year round or all the year round, it happens continually throughout the year.
all year round phrase PHR after v, PHR with cl
Town gardens are ideal because they produce flowers nearly all year round..., Drinking and driving is a problem all the year round.
12 →
donkey's years →
donkey
calendar year (calendar years plural )A calendar year is a period of twelve months from January 1 to December 31. Calendar year is often used in business to compare with the financial year. n-count
financial year (financial years plural )A financial year is a period of twelve months, used by government, business, and other organizations in order to calculate their budgets, profits, and losses.
(BRIT, BUSINESS) n-count usu sing, usu with supp
(=fiscal year)
...33,000 possible job losses in the coming financial year.
in AM, use fiscal year
fiscal year (fiscal years plural )The fiscal year is the same as the financial year. (BUSINESS) n-count usu sing, usu with supp
...the budget for the coming fiscal year.
gap year
A gap year is a period of time during which a student takes a break from studying after they have finished school and before they start college or university.
(BRIT) n-sing
I went around the world in my gap year.
leap year (leap years plural )A leap year is a year which has 366 days. The extra day is the 29th February. There is a leap year every four years. n-count
light year (light years plural )
1 n-count A light year is the distance that light travels in a year.
...a star system millions of light years away.
2 n-count You can say that two things are light years apart to emphasize a very great difference or a very long distance or period of time between them.
INFORMAL usu pl, N prep/adv (emphasis)
She says the French education system is light years ahead of the English one...
New Year
1 n-uncount New Year or the New Year is the time when people celebrate the start of a year.
also the N
Happy New Year, everyone..., The restaurant was closed over the New Year..., He returned home each year to celebrate Christmas and New Year with his family.
2 n-sing The New Year is the first few weeks of a year.
the N
Isabel was expecting their baby in the New Year..., The oil shortages could lead the government to raise prices before the New Year.
New Year's
New Year's is another name for New Year's Day or New Year's Eve.
(AM) n-uncount
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is the first day of the year. In Western countries this is the 1st of January. n-uncount
On New Year's Day in 1974, I started keeping a journal.
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is the last day of the year, the day before New Year's Day. n-uncount
On New Year's Eve I usually give a party, which is always chaotic.
New Year's resolution (New Year's resolutions plural ), New Year resolution If you make a New Year's resolution, you make a decision at the beginning of a year to start doing something or to stop doing something. n-count
She made a New Year's resolution to get fit.
off-year (off-years plural )An off-year is a year when no major political elections are held.
(AM) n-count oft N n
Election officials predict they'll set a new turnout record for an off-year election in Washington state.
tax year (tax years plural )A tax year is a particular period of twelve months which is used by the government as a basis for calculating taxes and for organizing its finances and accounts. In Britain, the tax year begins on April 6th and ends on April 5th. In the United States, the tax year begins on January 1st and ends on December 31st. n-count
year-long
Year-long is used to describe something that lasts for a year. adj ADJ n
The miners ended their year-long strike in March 1985.
-year-old (-year-olds plural )-year-old combines with numbers to describe the age of people or things. comb in adj ADJ n
She has a six-year-old daughter., ...their 200-year-old farmhouse in Ohio.
-year-old also combines to form nouns., comb in n-count
Snow Puppies is a ski school for 3 to 6-year-olds.
year-round
Year-round is used to describe something that happens, exists, or is done throughout the year. adj ADJ n
Cuba has a tropical climate with year-round sunshine.
Year-round is also an adverb., adv ADV with cl
They work 7 days a week year-round.
