Year I Time Spent Extra Examples Period Past

• elections take place every year.
• i lost my job earlier this year.
• next/last year
• she died the following year.

year

1. the period from 1 January to 31 December, that is 365 or 366 days, divided into 12 months
• SEE ALSO leap year
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/leap-year
• Elections take place every year.
• I lost my job earlier this year.
• next/last year
• She died the following year.
• Three million tourists visit Yellowstone every year.
• She was born in the year 1865.
• The crowd was much smaller than in previous years.
• In the past few years, she has become one of our top-selling authors.
• The museum is open all year round (= during the whole year).

Extra Examples

• profit for the current year to 31 December
• the boom years from 1993 to 2000
• the early years of the 21st century
• a peak year for exports
• This year marks the 10th anniversary of her death.
• They had met once the previous year.
• The team has suffered a loss of form since the turn of the year.
• The reforms will be fully implemented by the year 2007.
• The event has not proved popular in past years.
• The death rate in any given year.
• That year saw the explosion of the internet.
• That was in the year of the great flood.
• Over 10 000 people per year are injured in this type of accident.
• I've been waiting for this moment all year long.
• He spent last year trying to get a new job.
• Britain was invaded in the year 1066.
• We're going skiing early in the new year.
• I paint the house every single year.
• It's usually much colder at this time of year.
• She won the race for the third successive year.
• The city tour runs all the year round.
• The global economy means that all types of fruit and vegetables are available throughout the year.
• We aim to do even better in future years.
2. a period of twelve months, measured from any particular time
• SEE ALSO gap year
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/gap-year
• It's exactly a year since I started working here.
• She gave up teaching three years ago.
• They got married two years later.
• The autobiography could only be published 100 years after his death.
• I hope to retire in two years' time.
• Where do you think you will be five years from now?
• Seeds can live in the soil for many years.
• in the first year of their marriage
• Production has declined in recent years.
• His early years were spent in San Francisco.
• We have high hopes for the coming year (= the next twelve months).
• the pre-war/war/post-war years (= the period before/during/after the war)
• I have happy memories of my years in Poland (= the time I spent there).

Extra Examples

• He soon realized that a lot had changed in the intervening years.
• I visited Morocco 20-odd years ago.
• It happened during the Clinton years.
• It took him ten years to qualify as a vet.
• Next month, they celebrate fifty years of marriage.
• Over the past few years, we've made significant changes.
• The book represents three years of hard work.
• The chart shows our performance over the past year.
• The children spent the war years abroad.
• The last year went by in flash.
• We lived there for ten years.
• We worked for five long years on this project.
• We've been friends for over twenty years.
• They're still friends after all these years.
• the golden years of motoring
• In his later years, he drifted away from politics.
• She was born in Spain but spent her formative years in Italy.
3. age; time of life
• He was 14 years old when it happened.
• She looks young for her years.
• They were both only 20 years of age.
• a twenty-year-old man
• He died in his sixtieth year.
• She's getting on in years (= is no longer young).

Extra Examples

• She's only ten years old.
• children of tender years
4. a period of twelve months connected with a particular activity
• SEE ALSO academic year
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/academic-year
• the tax/fiscal year
• the school year

Extra Examples

• in the next tax year
• during the next academic year
• The academic year runs from October to June.
• He spent his sabbatical year doing research in Moscow.
5. a level that you stay in for one year; a student at a particular level
• We started German in year seven.
• She was in my year at school.
• The project is the work of a group of year-seven pupils.
• The first years do French.

Extra Examples

• We didn't start Latin until year nine.
• Year seven is the first year of secondary school.
• First and second years usually live in college.
• final-year university students
• The language students go abroad in their third year.
6. a long time
• It's years since we last met.
• They haven't seen each other for years and years.
• That's the best movie I've seen in years.
• It's the first time we've met in years.
• We've had a lot of fun over the years.
7. at some time in the future
• There are certain to be more job losses further down the road.
• Will this movie still be funny a few years down the road?
8. the last years of somebody’s life
9. a very long time
• We've known each other for donkey's years.
• I met him once, but that was donkey’s years ago.
• This technology has been around for donkey's.
10. a person or thing that people decide is the best in a particular field in a particular year
• He was chosen as TV personality of the year.
11. used to emphasize that you will/would never do something
• I'd never have thought of that in a million years.
12. used in polite expressions to describe somebody as ‘very old’
• He was a man of advanced years.
• Even at my advanced age I still know how to enjoy myself!
13. to make somebody feel or look older
• The illness put years on him.
• His wife's death has put years on him.
14. the desire for new sexual experience that is thought to be felt after seven years of marriage
15. since a very long time ago
• I've been going there every summer since the year dot.
16. to make somebody feel or look younger
• That haircut takes years off her.
• Careful make-up and styling can take years off you.
17. the time when a new century/year starts
• It was built at the turn of the century.
• The team are unbeaten since the turn of the year.
18. every year for many years
• People return year after year.
19. as the years pass; each year
• Year by year their affection for each other grew stronger.
20. every year
21. any particular year after the birth of Christ
22. each year, compared with the last year
• Spending has increased year on year.
• a year-on-year increase in spending

Word Origin

• Old English gē(a)r, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch jaar and German Jahr, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek hōra ‘season’.