year S1 W1 /jɪə, jɜː $ jɪr/ noun [countable]
[Word Family: noun: year; adverb: yearly; adjective: yearly]
[Language: Old English; Origin: gear]

1. 12 MONTHS a period of about 365 days or 12 months, measured from any particular time:
I arrived here two years ago.
We’ve known each other for over a year.
It’s almost a year since Sue died.
Jodi is 15 years old.
a three-year business plan
a four-year-old child
be 12/21 etc years of age (=be 12/21 etc years old) ⇒ financial year, fiscal year, light year, tax year

2. JANUARY TO DECEMBER (also calendar year) a period of 365 or 366 days divided into 12 months beginning on January 1st and ending on December 31st:
the year that Kennedy died
in the year 1785
this/last/next year
They moved here at the beginning of this year.
last year’s cup final
She goes there every year.
The museum attracts 100,000 visitors a year.
in the early years of last century ⇒ leap year, New Year

3. years
a) informal a very long period of time Synonym : ages:
It’s years since I rode a bike.
in/for years
I haven’t been there for years.
It was the first time in years I’d seen her.
b) age, especially old age
a man/woman/person etc of his/her etc years
Gordon is very active for a man of his years.
getting on in years (=no longer young)

4. all (the) year round during the whole year:
It’s warm enough to swim all year round. ⇒ year-round

5. year by year as each year passes:
Business has steadily increased year by year.

6. year after year/year in, year out every year for many years:
Many birds return to the same spot year after year.

7. PERIOD OF LIFE/HISTORY years [plural] a particular period of time in someone’s life or in history:
the difficult years following the war
Sheila enjoyed her years as a student in Oxford.

8. the school/academic year the time within a period of 12 months when students are studying at a school or university

9. SCHOOL/UNIVERSITY LEVEL especially British English a particular level that a student stays at for one year:
a group of year seven students
in a year
He was in my year at school.

10. first/second etc year British English someone who is in their first etc year at school or university:
The department offers a study skills programme for all first years.

11. musician/player/car etc of the year the musician etc who was voted the best in a particular year
vote/name something ... of the year
The new Renault was voted car of the year.

12. year on year compared with the previous year:
Sales rose by 39 per cent year on year.

13. never/not in a million years spoken used to say that something is extremely unlikely:
Never in a million years did I think we’d lose.

14. the year dot British English informal a very long time ago:
Scientists have been involved in war since the year dot.

15. put years on somebody/take years off somebody to make someone look or feel older or younger:
Tina’s divorce has put years on her.
⇒ donkey’s years at donkey(2)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

year
noun
ADJ. last, past The chart shows our performance over the past year.
past, preceding, previous, recent The event has not proved popular in past years. They had met once the previous year.
current | coming, following, future, next We have high hopes for the coming year. She died the following year. We aim to do even better in future years.
consecutive, successive She won the race for the third successive year.
alternate | intervening He soon realized that a lot had changed in the intervening years.
early, later the early years of the twenty-first century In his later years, he drifted away from politics.
new We're going skiing early in the new year.
final final-year university students
golden, good, happy, memorable, momentous the golden years of motoring
profitable | bad, hard, lean, poor | peak, record a peak year for exports
calendar | leap | academic, school | financial, fiscal, tax | light (often figurative) The new range puts us light years ahead of the competition.
election | sabbatical He spent his sabbatical year doing research in Moscow.
inter-war, post-war, pre-war, war ~s The children spent the war years abroad.
formative, tender ~s She was born in Spain but spent her formative years in Italy. children of tender years
VERB + YEAR spend He spent last year trying to get a new job.
take It took him ten years to qualify as a vet.
celebrate Next year they celebrate fifty years of marriage.
put on His wife's death has put years on him (= made him look/feel much older).
take off Careful make-up and styling can take years off you (= make you look much younger).
YEAR + VERB begin, start | end, finish | elapse, go by, pass A year elapsed before I heard from him again. The last year went by in flash.
run from/to sth The academic year runs from October to June.
see sth That year saw the explosion of the Internet.
PREP. by the ~ … The reforms will be fully implemented by the year 2007.
during the ~ during the next academic year
for a/the ~ profit for the current year to 31 December We lived there for ten years.
in a ~ I hope to retire in a year/in a year's time.
in a/the ~ in the next tax year Britain was invaded in the year 1066.
in ~s It's the first time we've met in years (= for many years). | over/under a ~ We've been friends for over twenty years.
per ~ Over 10,000 people per year are injured in this type of accident.
throughout the ~ The global economy means that all types of fruit and vegetables are available throughout the year.
~s between … and … /from … to … the boom years from 1993 to 2000
~ of The book represents three years of hard work. That was in the year of the great flood.
PHRASES all year long I've been waiting for this moment all year long.
all (the) year round The city tour runs all the year round.
the beginning/end/middle/start of the year, be six, etc. years old She's only ten years old.
early/late in the year, a time of year It's usually much colder at this time of year.
the turn of the year The team has suffered a loss of form since the turn of the year.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

year

this year
She will be eight this year.
next year
I might go to law school next year.
last year
Last year we spent a lot on the house.
every year
They go back to the same resort every year.
the current year
The budget for the current year was £13 million.
the coming year (=the year that is about to start)
Here are some events to look out for in the coming year.
the past year
Over the past year everyone has worked extremely hard.
the previous year
They had married the previous year.
the following year
The following year he was made captain of the team.
the new year (=used to talk about the beginning of the next year)
The report is due at the beginning of the new year.
the beginning/start of the year
They moved here at the beginning of last year.
the end of the year
Work should finish around the end of the year.
early years
Little is known about his early years.
He remembers the early years of television.
the last/latter/closing years of something
He changed his opinion during the last years of his life.
somebody's childhood/teenage years
the home in which she spent her childhood years
the war years
She worked for the BBC during the war years.
the boom years (=when an economy or industry is very successful)
In the boom years, things weren't too bad.
somebody's retirement years
He enjoyed his retirement years in Wales.
the Bush/Blair etc years (=when Bush, Blair etc was leader)
The rich did very nicely during the Thatcher years.
in recent years
The number of cases has risen dramatically in recent years.
in later years
In later years he regretted their argument.
in years gone by (=in the past)
The old fort defended the island in years gone by.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

year
noun
1.
BAD: I've been playing the piano since I was seven years.
GOOD: I've been playing the piano since I was seven.
GOOD: I've been playing the piano since I was seven years old.
GOOD: I've been playing the piano since I was seven years of age.

Usage Note:
When stating someone's age, use just a number on its own OR a number + years old/years of age (NOT years ): 'I'm almost eighteen.' 'My sister is fifteen years old.'

---

2.
BAD: Robert was a little boy of ten years.
GOOD: Robert was a little boy of ten.

Usage Note:
a boy/girl/son etc + of + number (WITHOUT years ): 'a child of six', 'a man of fifty'

---

3.
See AGE 2 (age), 6, 7

---

4.
See OLD 1 (old), 2

---

5.
See RECENT (recent)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

year
jə:
See: along in years or on in years

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲