yearnoun
uk/jɪər/us/jɪr/A1 [ C ] a period of twelve months, especially from 1 January to 31 December:
Annette worked in Italy for two years.
2005 was one of the worst years of my life.
We went to Egypt on holiday last year.
At this time of year the beaches are almost deserted.
This species keeps its leaves all year (round) (= through the year).
[ C ] a period of twelve months relating to a particular activity:
The financial/tax year begins in April.
A2 [ C ] the part of the year, in a school or university, during which courses are taught:
the academic/school year
UK She's now in her final/first/second year at Manchester University.
US My daughter is in her freshman/sophomore/junior/senior year.
[ C, + sing/pl verb ] UK US class a group of students who start school, college, university, or a course together:
Kathy was in the year above me at college.
More examples
- We look forward to greater success in the coming year.
- I'm still in contact with her - we write a couple of times a year.
- I'm contemplating going abroad for a year.
- We have put some money on one side for next year's summer holiday.
- He served four years in prison for robbery.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Specific periods of time
- around-the-clock
- British Summer Time
- BST
- calendar month
- daylight saving time
- depth
- generation
- hr
- hundred
- Jurassic
- lunar month
- microsecond
- midpoint
- nightlong
- Q, q
- quarter
- Quaternary
- response time
- s
- trimester
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Years & yearly
Schools in general
Students & pupils
Idiom(s)
for a man/woman/person of his/her years
for years
from/since the year dot
in/through all the years
of the year
put years on sb
take years off sb
year in, year out