close
/ Sign up
English (UK)
Cambridge Dictionary Online

Meaning of year in English

year
noun
uk
/jɪər/ us
/jɪr/
Add to word list Add to word list
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.
last year We went to Egypt on holiday last year.
time of year At this time of year the beaches are almost deserted.
all year (round) This species keeps its leaves all year (round) (= through the year).
year after year They just keep on turning up, year after year (= continuously).
[ C ]
a period of twelve months relating to a particular activity:
financial year The financial year begins in April.
tax year The figures for the tax year 2019–2020 are given below.
A2 [ C ]
the part of the year, in a school or university, during which courses are taught:
academic year
school year
in someone's final/first/second year UK She's now in her final/first/second year at Manchester University.
freshman/sophomore/junior/senior year 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.
years [ plural ]
a long time:
for years Rachel and I have been going there for years.
See more
someone's years [ plural ]
someone's age or the time that someone lives or has lived:
Her voice still sounds very pure and shows no hint of her years.
See more
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Specific periods of time
See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Idioms

from/since the year dot
in/through all the years
of the year
put years on someone
take years off someone
year in, year out
-year
suffix
UK
uk
/ -jɪər/ us
/ -jɪr/
used to refer to a student in a particular year group at a school, college, or university:
I like teaching the first-years, but the second-years can be difficult.
a first-year student
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Students & pupils
See more results »
(Definition of year from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

year | American Dictionary

year
noun [ C ]
us
/jɪər/
Add to word list Add to word list
any period of twelve months, or a particular period of twelve months beginning with January 1:
last/next year
She brought along her eight-year-old daughter.
My parents have been married for 30 years.
Richard earned his degree in the year 1995.
You can get cheaper fares now, so it’s a good time of year to travel abroad.
In a school, a year refers to the part of the year during which courses are taught:
September is the start of the new academic year.

Idioms

in years
year in and year out
(Definition of year from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

year | Business English

year
noun [ C ]
uk
/jɪər/ us
Add to word list Add to word list
(also calendar year)
a period of 365 or 366 days, starting on January 1st and ending on December 31st:
The project took five years to complete.
last/next/this year
the following/previous year
a period of twelve months relating to a particular activity:
He earns $68,000 a year.
years
a long time:
It's taken years to get funding for the project.
He's been doing the same job for years.
of the year
a thing or person of the year is one that has been chosen as the best in a particular area or activity for that year:
She won the Business Woman of the Year award in 2010.
year after year
every year for a long period:
The fund produces terrific results year after year.
year by year
if something increases, develops, etc. year by year, it happens each year over a period of time:
Savers should monitor their funds year by year.
Credit card fraud is still increasing on a year-by-year basis.
year in, year out
if something happens year in, year out, it has been happening for a while and is expected to continue in the same way:
Investors should choose a fund that does consistently well year in, year out.

See also

amount falling due after one year
amount falling due within one year
beginning of year
end-of-year
financial year
fiscal year
tax year
year-ago
year end
year-on-year
View all
year-over-year
year to date
(Definition of year from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of year

year
All age groups were affected and the median age was 39 years (range 1-89 years) ; 52 % were men.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The mean age of the 45 patients was 29.0 years (range 1-77 years).
From the Cambridge English Corpus
All age groups (nine children, five adults) were affected (mean 24 years, range 1.5-75 years).
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Over the next sixteen years, only 83 men appear, from no more than 56 families.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The level of effective coverage at 2 years is shown on the x-axis.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Median age was 38 years (range 0- 96 years).
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The response among young male adults aged 20 -24 years was particularly poor (y20 %).
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The median age was 31 years (interquartile range 27-34 years).
From the Cambridge English Corpus
During these years no mass immunization against influenza was conducted in these communities.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Clitics understandably come in for fuller treatment (394-410) given the extensive attention they have attracted in recent years.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
During a period of over 20 years, the field, which this journal has set out to address, has experienced enormous progress.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
From 12,000 employees in 1991 it mushroomed to 19,000 five years later.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In the early years of this decade the approach known as ' generative semantics ' had become predominant.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Still, it is interesting to note that the link between local elections in 2004 and presidential elections two years later is tenuous at best.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
First, the number of beneficiaries has more than doubled in three years to over 30 million.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of year
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of year, -year?
 

Translations of year

in Chinese (Traditional)
年，年份，（尤指一月一日至十二月三十一日間的）一年時間, （與某一活動有關的）一年，年度, 學年…
See more
in Chinese (Simplified)
年，年份, （尤指1月1日至12月31日间的）一年时间, （与某一活动有关的）一年，年度…
See more
in Spanish
año, curso, año [masculine…
See more
in Portuguese
ano, ano letivo, turma…
See more
in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Telugu
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
वर्ष…
See more
1年, 学年, 年度…
See more
yıl, aynı dönemde/yıllarda okulda olan bir grup öğrenci, devre…
See more
an [masculine], année [feminine], an…
See more
any, curs…
See more
jaar…
See more
பன்னிரண்டு மாத காலம், குறிப்பாக ஜனவரி 1 முதல் டிசம்பர் 31 வரை, இந்த ஆண்டின் ஒரு பகுதி…
See more
वर्ष, साल, साल का वो हिस्सा…
See more
વર્ષ, શૈક્ષણિક વર્ષ, સત્ર…
See more
år: -års, år, kalenderår…
See more
år…
See more
tahun…
See more
das Jahr…
See more
år [neuter], år…
See more
سال, تعلیمی سال…
See more
рік…
See more
పన్నెండు నెలల కాలం, ప్రత్యేకించి జనవరి 1 నుండి డిసెంబర్ 31 వరకు, ఏడాది…
See more
বছর, শিক্ষাবর্ষ…
See more
rok…
See more
tahun…
See more
เวลาที่โลกหมุนรอบดวงอาทิตย์ 365.5 วัน, ระยะเวลาตั้งแต่ 1 มกราคมถึง 31 ธันวาคม…
See more
năm…
See more
rok, rocznik…
See more
년, 해, 년도…
See more
anno…
See more
Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool
 

Browse

yea
yea or nay idiom
yeah
yeah, right! idiom
year
year end
year group BETA
year in and year out idiom
year in, year out idiom

Word of the Day

comfort zone

UK
/ˈkʌm.fət ˌzəʊn/
US
/ˈkʌm.fɚt ˌzoʊn/

a situation in which you feel comfortable and in which your ability and determination are not being tested

About this

Blog

Paws and claws (Words for parts of animals)

New Words

graduation creep

More new words
has been added to list
English (UK)   Change
English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी
Follow us
Choose a dictionary
  • Recent and Recommended
  • Definitions
    Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English
    English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
  • Grammar and thesaurus
    Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English
    Grammar Thesaurus
  • Pronunciation
    British and American pronunciations with audio
    English Pronunciation
  • Translation
    Click on the arrows to change the translation direction.
    Bilingual Dictionaries
    • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
    • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
    • English–Danish Danish–English
    • English–Dutch Dutch–English
    • English–French French–English
    • English–German German–English
    • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
    • English–Italian Italian–English
    • English–Japanese Japanese–English
    • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
    • English–Polish Polish–English
    • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
    • English–Spanish Spanish–English
    • English–Swedish Swedish–English
    Semi-bilingual Dictionaries
    English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese
  • Dictionary +Plus
    Word Lists
Contents
My word lists

To add year to a word list please sign up or log in.

Sign up or Log in
My word lists

Add year to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

More
Go to your word lists
Tell us about this example sentence: