December Meaning
/dɪˈsɛmbə/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe twelfth and last month of the year.
nameThe twelfth and last month of the Gregorian calendar, following November and preceding the January of the following year, containing the southern solstice.
Sentence Examples
It is extremely hot and humid in Bali in December.
It all started in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955.
Your contract of employment terminates in December.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The annual company party is always held in ____ each year.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is extremely hot and humid in Bali in ____.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ Proto-Italic *dekəm Latin decem Latin December Latin decemberbor. Old French decembrebor. Middle English December English December From Middle English December, Decembre, from Old French decembre, from Latin december (“tenth month”), from Latin decem (“ten”); + Latin -ber, from -bris, an adjectival suffix; December was the tenth month in the Roman calendar.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Old Oakes doe not eaſily fall: / Decembers cold hand combes my head and beard, / But May ſvvimmes in my blood; and he that vvalkes / VVithout his vvooden third legge, is never old."
— a. 1633 (date written), Thomas Dekker, The Wonder of a Kingdome, London: […] Robert Raworth for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1636, →OCLC, Act I, signature [A3], recto:
"Wearing his best suit and sunglasses, the sultan of Slowjamastan officially declared independence from the United States of America at 12:26 p.m. on December 1, 2021 as he broadcast the secession live from his open-air government “office” in Dublândia, the capital of the Republic of Slowjamastan."
— 2023 June 8, Richard Collett, “He ran out of countries to visit, so he created his own”, in CNN:
"It was sparked by reports of an outbreak of kindness on a cold December morning in 2012."
— 2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPR:
"But others were less than thrilled with this new gizmo, particularly its addictive qualities. There were reports of breakups threatened and consummated over it. “Our marriage or your Sony,” one woman told her husband, who duly sold the Walkman to a bachelor friend. A young woman named December Cole, a sales executive at a beauty magazine, recalled a trip to Atlantic City with "a basically rude" man who wouldn't stop "bopping around to his own music.""
— 2017, Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, Personal Stereo, →ISBN, page 45:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The annual company party is always held in ____ each year.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is extremely hot and humid in Bali in ____.