Millennium Meaning
/mɪˈlɛnɪəm/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA period of time consisting of one thousand years.
nounThe year in which one period of one thousand years ends and another begins, especially the year 2000.
Sentence Examples
How many centuries are there in a millennium?
The Millennium Development Goals aim to reduce hunger, poverty and disease.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The year 2000 marked the start of a new ____ of one thousand years.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The turn of the ____ was marked by massive celebrations all over the world as people welcomed the arrival of the year 2000.
Word Origin & History
From Late Latin mīllennium, from Latin mīllennis (“1000-year”) + -ium (forming abstract nouns).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"But these seekers, too, are saved - by virtue of the inherited symbolic aids of society, the rites of passage, the grace-yielding sacraments, given to mankind of old by the redeemers and handed down through millenniums."
— 1968, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd edition, London: Fontana Press, published 1993, page 23:
"How this happens no one really knows, despite the efforts of philosophers and psychologists over two and a half millennia to study the phenomenon."
— 1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 25:
"The first known man-made tools, including spear points and axes, were associated with a hunting and gathering pattern that lasted, according to anthropologists, almost 200 millennia."
— 2013, Al Gore, The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 37:
"Magnolias are some of the most primitive of our flowering trees, and fossils dating back millennia prove that they have had little need to evolve."
— 2013 March 24, Dan Pearson, “Magnolia magic: how to grow our favourite flowering tree”, in The Guardian:
"After millenniums of austerity and poverty, the age of limitless “superabundance” was at hand."
— 2025 March 18, Samuel Moyn, “Can Democrats Learn to Dream Big Again?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2025:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The year 2000 marked the start of a new ____ of one thousand years.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The turn of the ____ was marked by massive celebrations all over the world as people welcomed the arrival of the year 2000.