era
Pluraleras
- 1A long period of time, especially of history or of someone's activity, marked by particular events, developments or characteristics.
The invention of the printing press ushered in a new era of mass communication.
The founder's retirement marked the end of an era for the company.
UsageOften in an era when + clause, and in a new era and the end of an era.
Similarage, epoch, period, time
Note
Most at home as the frame for a whole clause: in an era when, followed by what marked the time, and then a contrast set against it. Margery Allingham's The China Governess (1962) uses it that way, setting one man's clothes against an age when individual dress was a cult.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Margery Allingham wrote The China Governess. en.wikipedia.org
- The novel contrasts a man's noticeable clothes with an era when individuality in dress was a cult. en.wiktionary.org
In an era when letters took weeks to arrive, her daily notes were remarkable.
Even in an era when everyone owns a camera, his photographs stood out.
- 2An indefinite stretch of someone's life characterized by a particular interest or pursuit.
After college she entered her hiking era, spending nearly every weekend on a trail.
He jokes that his vinyl-collecting era ended the day he saw his credit card bill.
UsageUsually a possessive + an interest + era, often after in: in my baking era.
- 3A unit of geologic time spanning tens to hundreds of millions of years, smaller than an eon and divided into periods.
The Cenozoic era began about 66 million years ago, after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Each era in the geologic time scale is split into shorter periods.
Note
Geologists use the word as a fixed rank, not a loose stretch of time: an eon divides into eras, and each era divides into periods. That makes period a trap for the general reader. In the everyday sense era and period are near neighbors, but on the geologic time scale a period is strictly the smaller unit, nested inside an era.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Era is a formal rank in the geological time scale. stratigraphy.org
- Eons divide into eras, and eras divide into periods; a period therefore ranks below an era. bgs.ac.uk
Less common meaning
- 4A scheme for numbering and dating years in which every year is counted from one event or moment chosen as the start.
Inscriptions from the region are dated by a local era that begins with the founding of the city.
Historians have to convert between eras when one chronicle counts from a king's accession and another from the creation of the world.
Practice
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Origin
Borrowed from the Late Latin word aera.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- English era was borrowed from Late Latin aera. en.wiktionary.org