year

noun

UK /jɪə(r)/

Word Forms

singular	year
plural	years

1
countable a period of 365 days, or 366 in a leap year, divided into 12 months
He lived in Paris for a few years.
I started my job two years ago.
Synonyms and related words
Years and numbers of years
00s
academic year
AD
1. 1a
  used for talking about age
  years old:
  Their house is only five years old.
  Synonyms and related words
  General words for age and describing someone’s age
  a 3-year-old/10-month-old etc
  age
  age
2. 1b
  used about a particular period of time, beginning on 1 January and ending on 31 December, or between the first and last dates on some other calendar
  We’re hoping to have the house sold by the end of the year.
  They’re showing two films from the year 1977.
  last/next year (=the year before or after the present year):
  Profits are lower than last year.
  Synonyms and related words
  Years and numbers of years
  00s
  academic year
  AD
3. 1c
  used about the period during which an institution operates, or about the system that it uses for dividing time
  the first weeks of the new school year
  the financial/fiscal/tax year:
  a budget for the fiscal year 2002
  Synonyms and related words
  Years and numbers of years
  00s
  academic year
  AD
2

years
plural a very long time
It wasn’t until years later that I realized how foolish I’d been.
for years:
He hasn’t been back to the country for years.
Synonyms and related words
Long periods of time
eternity
light years
ages
1. 2a
  used about a particular period of time in history
  Conditions were very different in the postwar years (=the period after the war).
  Synonyms and related words
  General periods of time
  a clear run
  a page in something’s history
  block
3
countable astronomythe amount of time that a planet takes to travel round the sun
Synonyms and related words
The movement of the sun, moon and stars
rise
go down
eclipse
4
take years off someone
to make someone feel or look younger
Becoming a vegetarian has taken years off me.
Submitted by:
Emran Khoshrouye Ghiasi from Iran, Islamic Republic of on 26/11/2018
Open Dictionary - November2018

phrases

a first/second/third etc year

something puts years on someone

year after year

year by year

the year dot

year on year

years of age

year ​‌‌‌

years

take years off someone

year ​‌‌‌

years

take years off someone

year

year