annual
adj. · n.-
1 happening once a year (adj.) B1 Intermediatehappening or done once every year.
occurring, appearing, or made once every year; recurring at yearly intervals.
ExampleThe company holds its annual meeting every October to discuss the budget.
ExampleThe annual report provides a comprehensive overview of the firm's financial performance and strategic objectives for the upcoming fiscal year.
UsageUsually placed before the noun.
-
2 lasting one year (adj.) B2 Upper Intermediate Sciencelasting for only one year or one growing season.
completing a life cycle or lasting for only one year or growing season.
ExampleSunflowers are annual plants, so you have to plant new seeds every spring.
ExampleAnnual crops like maize and wheat must be replanted each season, unlike perennial grasses that regrow from the same root system.
Show 2 more sensesShow fewer
-
3 a yearly book (n.) B2 Upper Intermediatea book or magazine that is published once a year.
a publication, such as a yearbook or a collection of stories, issued once a year.
ExampleWhen I was a child, I always received a Christmas annual full of comic strips.
ExampleThe society publishes a scholarly annual that compiles the most significant research papers produced by its members over the last twelve months.
-
4 a one-season plant (n.) B2 Upper Intermediate Technical Sciencea plant that lives, flowers, and dies within one year.
a plant that completes its entire life cycle, from germination to seed production, within a single growing season.
ExampleThe gardener filled the pots with colorful annuals that would bloom all summer.
ExampleWhile perennials provide the garden's structure, many hobbyists rely on annuals for intense, season-long color displays.
First attested around 1382, borrowed from Late Latin annuālem, annuālis, related to Latin annālis, adjective form of annus (“year”). Used to categorize plants since 1710.
- Adjectiveannual
- Adverbannually