annual
Noun pluralannuals
Pluralannuals
- 1Occurring once each year, typically as part of a regular recurring cycle.
The company publishes an annual report summarizing its finances.
Migratory birds make their annual journey south before winter sets in.
UsageUsually before the noun: an annual festival, an annual report. To describe an action, use the adverb: it is held annually.
Similaryearly
Note
The Economist in 2013 called Southeast Asia's haze "an almost annual occurrence." Set it beside the whole-year meaning: an annual meeting happens once, while an annual salary accrues.
- 2Relating to or measured over the course of a whole year; reckoned or accumulated by the year.
The company reported strong annual revenue for the past fiscal year.
Economists closely track the annual growth rate of the economy.
Note
Here the year is a span to be measured, not a date that comes round: an annual salary is reckoned over the whole year, average annual profits are totaled across it, and the annual course of the sun is its complete circuit. That separates it from the once-a-year meaning, where an event simply recurs.
- 3A publication issued once a year, such as a book, report, yearbook, or comic.
The astronomy society publishes an annual filled with the coming year's star charts.
Children eagerly awaited the Christmas annual packed with comic strips and puzzles.
Similaryearbook
Note
A shortening of "annual publication." It is one of several nouns the adjective has produced by dropping the noun it modified; compare the garden plant. An annual often accompanies a regular weekly or monthly title as a once-a-year companion. That is why someone can read a magazine yet skip "the annuals."
- 4Living or lasting for only one year or season; of a plant, completing its whole life cycle within one growing season.
Gardeners often choose annual species for quick, colorful displays each summer.
Unlike perennials, annual crops grow, flower, and die within one season.
UsageAn annual plant dies after one season and does not come back; a perennial is the one that returns.
Note
A botanist's classification by life cycle: beans, corn and marigold sprout, flower, set seed and die within one growing season. It belongs to a set with biennial and perennial. The same classification gives the noun an annual plant.
Less common meanings
- 5A plant that germinates, flowers, and dies within a single growing season.
Gardeners replant annuals each spring to keep the borders colorful.
Because the zinnia is an annual, she has to sow fresh seed every spring to get another summer of flowers.
UsageOften plural: gardeners plant annuals each spring, set against perennials and biennials.
Oppositeperennial
Note
You plant your annuals in spring, and since the plants die, you usually sow or buy new ones the next year, though some self-seed.
- 6A routine medical checkup that takes place once a year.
He booked his annual to have his blood pressure and cholesterol checked.
Many people use their annual to catch health problems early.
UsageUsually with a possessive: book your annual, skip your annual. In full it is an annual checkup or annual physical.
- 7A pantomime that is performed once a year.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Late Latin annuālis, related to Latin annālis, the adjective from annus ("year"), was borrowed into English, where it is first recorded around 1382. Plants have been described with it since at least 1629.