millennium

noun

mil·​len·​ni·​um mə-ˈle-nē-əm 

plural millennia mə-ˈle-nē-ə  or millenniums

1

a

: the thousand years mentioned in Revelation (see revelation sense 3) 20 during which holiness is to prevail and Christ is to reign on earth

b

: a period of great happiness or human perfection

2

a

: a period of 1000 years

especially : one reckoned from the beginning of the Christian era

at the start of the third millennium

b

: a 1000th anniversary or its celebration

In 2015 the city of Leipzig, Germany, celebrated its millennium.

Did you know?

Since in Latin mille means "thousand", a millennium lasts 1,000 years. Thus, we're living today at the beginning of the third millennium since the birth of Christ. But some religious sects, relying on a prophecy in the biblical Book of Revelation, speak of a coming millennium when Jesus will return to reign on earth for 1,000 years, evil will be banished, and all will live in peace and happiness. Members of these sects who keep themselves in a constant state of preparedness are called millenarians or millennialists.

Examples of millennium in a Sentence

The book describes the changes that have occurred in the landscape over many millennia.

The year 2000 was celebrated as the beginning of the third millennium.

Recent Examples on the Web

In southern Europe, a millennium of history sat hidden under just a few feet of dirt and rocks. —Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 7 June 2024

Habibur Rahman/Abaca Press/Reuters In 1998, a scientist named Michael Mann published a graph in Nature magazine shaped like a hockey stick – illustrating the exponential heating of the Earth over the last century compared with the previous millennium. —Stephanie Hanes, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 June 2024

Turns out that at some point in the last half a millennium, a greedy seller apparently decided two Carpaccio paintings could bring more in the marketplace than one, so the bottom half was sawed off. —Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 21 May 2024

His meeting with the immensely influential Sistani epitomized this approach of comity and understanding, as well as Francis’s belief that the papacy, which initiated the First Crusade against the Holy Land nearly a millennium ago, must be used to bridge divides. —Victor Gaetan, Foreign Affairs, 12 Mar. 2021

Word History

Etymology

New Latin, from Latin mille thousand + New Latin -ennium (as in biennium)

First Known Use

circa 1638, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing millennium

• the millennium

Kids Definition

millennium

noun

mil·​len·​ni·​um mə-ˈlen-ē-əm 

plural millennia

-ē-ə

or millenniums

1

a

: a period of 1000 years

b

: a 1000th anniversary or its celebration

2

: a period of great happiness

millennial

-ē-əl

adjective