yearly

The word “yearly” means happening once every year. In plain terms, happening every year, or done once a year.

“Yearly” is pronounced YEER-lee (/ˈjɪɹli/ in IPA).

Here is “yearly” used in a sentence: “The company holds a yearly review of employee performance.”

Words with a similar meaning to “yearly” include annual, per annum, perennial, annually and perennially.

Depending on how it is used, “yearly” can be an adjective and an adverb.

The word “yearly” comes from Old English. From Old English ġēarlīċ, formed from "year" plus the adjective/adverb suffix "-ly.".

“Yearly” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Yearly” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: happening once every year.

Both describe something that happens once a year, but "annual" is more common as an adjective before a noun ("annual report"), while "yearly" works as both an adjective and an adverb ("paid yearly"). In many contexts they are interchangeable.

"Yearly" means once every year, while "biannual" usually means twice a year, though it is sometimes used to mean once every two years. Because "biannual" is ambiguous, it is often clearer to write "twice a year" or "every two years."

"Yearly" means happening once each year, while "biennial" means happening once every two years. Take care not to confuse "biennial" with "biannual," which usually means twice a year.

Yes. "Yearly" works as an adjective ("a yearly checkup") and as an adverb ("we meet yearly"). This flexibility lets it describe both a noun and the timing of an action.