annual

The word “annual” means happening once every year. In plain terms, something that happens, or is published, once every year.

“Annual” is pronounced AN-yoo-uhl (/ˈæn.ju.əl/ in IPA).

Here is “annual” used in a sentence: “The company holds its annual conference every March.”

Depending on how it is used, “annual” can be an adjective and a noun.

The word “annual” comes from Late Latin. From Late Latin annualis, based on Latin annus, "year.".

“Annual” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

“Annual” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: happening once every year.

Annual means happening once every year, or, for a plant, completing its whole life cycle within a single year. Biennial means happening every two years, or a plant that takes two years to grow, flower and die. The key is the interval: one year for annual, two years for biennial.

In gardening, an annual plant lives for just one growing season and must be replanted, while a perennial survives for many years, dying back and regrowing each season. More generally, 'perennial' also means constant or endlessly recurring, as in 'a perennial problem', whereas 'annual' fixes an event to once a year.

'Annual' clearly means once a year. 'Biannual' is famously ambiguous: it can mean twice a year or once every two years, so people often avoid it. If you mean twice a year, 'semi-annual' is clearer; for every two years, 'biennial' removes the confusion entirely.

Common examples include an annual report, published once a year; annual leave, the yearly holiday allowance from work; an annual checkup with a doctor; and annual rainfall, the total measured over a year. In each case the event or figure recurs on a yearly cycle.