anniversary
//ˌænɪˈvɜːs(ə)ɹi//
Forms
- Plural
- anniversaries
Definitions
1.A day that is an exact number of years (to the day) since a given significant event occurred. Often preceded by an ordinal number indicating the number of years.
- We are celebrating our tenth anniversary today.
- Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war.
- As we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we must seize this moment to build a genuine culture of free expression for all.
2.A day subsequent in time to a given event by some significant period other than a year (especially as prefixed by the amount of time in question).
- Jonathon proposed to his [Jess's] mom on their three-month anniversary of meeting and married her on their fourth.
- The occasion was the six-month anniversary of the Aug. 8 coup that brought General Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores to power.
- In a thinly veiled threat to Saddam Hussein, President George Bush marked the six-month anniversary of September 11th by reiterating America's commitment to prevent rogue countries obtaining weapons of mass destruction.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3441
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English anniversary
From Medieval Latin anniversāria (diēs), anniversārium
From anniversārius (“yearly”)
From annus (“year”) + versus, past participle of vertere (“to turn”).