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.
leap year in British English
noun
a calendar year of 366 days, February 29 (leap day) being the additional day, that occurs every four years (those whose number is divisible by four) except for century years whose number is not divisible by 400. It offsets the difference between the length of the solar year (365.2422 days) and the calendar year of 365 days
leap year in American English
a year of 366 days in the Gregorian calendar, occurring every fourth year: the additional day, Feb. 29, makes up for the time lost annually when the approximate 3651⁄4-day cycle is computed as 365 days: a leap year is a year whose number is exactly divisible by 4, or, in case of the final year of a century, by 400
Examples of 'leap year' in a sentence
leap year
Add in the effects of an extra day from the leap year and reported sales across the group were up by 5 per cent.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Expect a change tomorrow - leap year day.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Doesn't the extra day for leap year cancel it out?
The Sun (2012)
Hurrah for an EXTRA leap year day!
The Sun (2012)
Word lists with
leap year
General vocabulary
In other languages
leap year
British English: leap year /liːp jɪə/ NOUN
A leap year is a year which has 366 days. The extra day is 29 February. There is a leap year every four years in the Western calendar.