yearslong

adjective

years·​long ˈyirz-ˈlȯŋ How to pronounce yearslong (audio)
: lasting through several or many years
Torrential rains and widespread flooding in Texas have brought relief from a yearslong drought to many parts of the state.John Schwartz

Examples of yearslong in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web By Austin Knoblauch, Los Angeles Times Amid concerns about protests, strikes, security and whatever might be floating in the Seine, the City of Light is about to strike a pose on its yearslong Olympics runway. Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 24 July 2024 Israel could also revert to the ways of its yearslong shadow war with Iran, orchestrating some kind of bloodless cyberattack or relying on spy craft and covert actions against Iranian interests, inside or outside Iran, without claiming responsibility for them. Michael Levenson, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2024 Despite official indications that China's yearslong anti-monopoly and data security crackdowns on technology companies have ended, entrepreneurs are jittery. Dake Kang and Elaine Kurtenbach, Quartz, 4 Mar. 2024 The case now promises to be a complex, yearslong legal battle. Alexander Smith, NBC News, 26 Jan. 2024 Both kids’ realizations started their families on a yearslong path of doctors, therapists and other experts in transgender medicine. Sam Metz and Amancai Biraben, Chicago Tribune, 22 Apr. 2023 The Dutch payments company, which competes with the likes of Stripe and PayPal to allow merchants to accept card payments, has seen its yearslong hot growth moderate amid slowing consumer spend and growing competition. Phil Wahba, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2023 Photo: staff/Reuters Houston bankruptcy judge David R. Jones resigned from the bench while under a misconduct investigation by a federal appeals court over his failure to disclose his yearslong romantic relationship with a bankruptcy lawyer who had business before his court. Alexander Gladstone, WSJ, 15 Oct. 2023 The situation will be made more volatile by Israel's nationalist government — stung by presiding over such national trauma — and the despair of Palestinians suffocated by the yearslong blockade of Gaza and Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Patrick Smith, NBC News, 8 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'yearslong.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1887, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of yearslong was in 1887

Dictionary Entries Near yearslong

Cite this Entry

“Yearslong.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yearslong. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

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