Annals Meaning
/ˈæn.əlz/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounplural of annal
nounA relation of events in chronological order, each event being recorded under the year in which it happened.
Sentence Examples
The annals of sports are replete with the names of great black athletes.
Love which is not unhappy is unworthy of figuring in the annals of literature.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The historian recorded the event in the ____ of the kingdom.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The discovery of the new planet will go down in the ____ of astronomy.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French annales, from Latin annālēs librī (“chronicles”), from annālis (“pertaining to a year”), from annus (“year”) + librī, plural of liber (“book”). Compare with annual.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"So ended this great siege, the most memorable in the annals of the British isles. It had lasted a hundred and five days"
— 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
"the annals of our religion"
— a. 1729, John Rogers, A Sufficiency with Regard to Mens Stations in Life adjusted and recommended:
"the short and simple annals of the poor"
— 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC:
"It was one of the most critical periods in our annals."
— 1780, Edmund Burke, Speech at the Guildhall, in Bristol:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The historian recorded the event in the ____ of the kingdom.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The discovery of the new planet will go down in the ____ of astronomy.