(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is a period of twelve months or 365 or 366 days, beginning on the first of January and ending on the thirty-first of December.
The ~ was 1840...
We had an election last ~.
...the number of people on the planet by the ~ 2050.
N-COUNT
see also leap ~
2.
A ~ is any period of twelve months.
The museums attract more than two and a half million visitors a ~...
She’s done quite a bit of work this past ~...
The school has been empty for ten ~s.
N-COUNT
3.
Year is used to refer to the age of a person. For example, if someone or something is twenty ~s old or twenty ~s of age, they have lived or existed for twenty ~s.
He’s 58 ~s old...
I’ve been in trouble since I was eleven ~s of age...
This column is ten ~s old today.
N-COUNT: num N adj/prep
4.
A school ~ or academic ~ is the period of time in each twelve months when schools or universities are open and students are studying there. In Britain and the United States, the school ~ starts in September.
...the 1990/91 academic ~...
The twins didn’t have to repeat their second ~ at school.
N-COUNT: usu adj/ord N
5.
You can refer to someone who is, for example, in their first ~ at school or university as a first ~. (BRIT)
The first ~s and second ~s got a choice of French, German and Spanish.
N-COUNT: ord N
6.
A financial or business ~ is an exact period of twelve months which businesses or institutions use as a basis for organizing their finances. (BUSINESS)
He announced big tax increases for the next two financial ~s...
The company admits it will make a loss for the ~ ending September.
N-COUNT: with supp
7.
You can use ~s to emphasize that you are referring to a long time.
I haven’t laughed so much in ~s...
It took me ~s to fully recover...
= age
N-PLURAL emphasis
8.
see also calendar ~ , fiscal ~
9.
If something happens ~ after ~, it happens regularly every ~.
Regulars return ~ after ~...
PHRASE: PHR after v
10.
If something changes ~ by ~, it changes gradually each ~.
This problem has increased ~ by ~...
The department has been shrinking ~ by ~ because of budget cuts.
PHRASE: PHR after v
11.
If you say something happens all ~ round or all the ~ round, it happens continually throughout the ~.
Town gardens are ideal because they produce flowers nearly all ~ round...
Drinking and driving is a problem all the ~ round.
PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR with cl
12.
donkey’s ~s: see donkey