Word.ws English Dictionary

millennial

Syllables: mil·len·ni·al/mɪˈlɛn.ɪ.əl/US/məˈlɛn.i.əl/

millennial adjective: thousand-year-old; also (by extension, loosely) thousands of years old. Also the often capitalized of or relating to.

Adjective (1)

millennial (not comparable)

  1. Thousand-year-old; also (by extension, loosely) thousands of years old.
    • The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee / About his shadowy sides: above him swell / Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; […]1830, Alfred Tennyson, “The Kraken”, in The Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Chicago, Ill.: The Dominion Company, published 1897, →OCLC, page 8
    Synonyms:
    millenarian
  2. Occurring every thousand years.
  3. Occurring at, or relating to, the beginning or end of a millennium.
    • [I]t is highly likely that some preachers may have called on millennial frettings for their purposes. The theologian Abbo of Fleury recalled a premillennial sermon in his youth which did precisely this.1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 184
    • But I would urge you to resist the temptation to swoon into "Waking Life" as though it were a dizzy millennial throwback to a 60's trip movie.2001 October 12, Stephen Holden, “Surreal adventures somewhere near the land of Nod”, in The New York Times (E section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
  4. Referring to the thousandth anniversary of an event or happening.
    • a millennial fair
  5. Synonym of millenarian (“pertaining to the belief in an impending period of one thousand years of peace and righteousness associated with the Second Coming of Christ and his reign on earth”).
    • the millennial judgment
    • VVhereas the very Povver of the Civil Magisſtrate and his ſecurity is hazarded by vvild and hot-ſpirited men, that vvould raiſe a Fifth Monarchie by Bloud and Rapine, and tumble dovvn all Government, […] and that they are the Pioners to level all plain, and break all Government in pieces, that...1660, H[enry] More, chapter XVII, in An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness; […], London: […] J[ames] Flesher, for W[illiam] Morden […], →OCLC, book I, page 204

Noun (1)

millennial (plural millennials)

  1. Often capitalized: a person from the generation born in the last two decades of the 20th century, from around the early 1980s to the mid-1990s and who reached adulthood early in the third millennium C.E., characterized by their familiarity with computer technology and poorer financial prospects than their parents.
    • Someday, Boomers hope, Millennials will build according to great ideals their parents can only envision, act on vital issues their parents can only ponder.1991, William Strauss, Neil Howe, “The Millennial Cycle”, in Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN, part III (The Future), page...
    • Meet the Millennials, born in or after 1982—the "Babies on Board" of the early [Ronald] Reagan years, the "Have You Hugged Your Child Today?" sixth graders of the early [Bill] Clinton years, the teens of Columbine, and, this year, the much-touted high school Class of 2000, now invading the nation's...2000 September, Neil Howe, William Strauss, “The Next Great Generation”, in Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, →ISBN, page 4
  2. (obsolete, rare) A thousandth anniversary; also, a celebration of such an anniversary.
    • The Magyar celebrates the millennial of Hungary, not of Austro-Hungary.1896 October, Thomas Lindsay in the Canadian Magazine, quotee, “A Thousand Years of the Magyars”, in Albert Shaw, editor, The Review of Reviews. An International Magazine, volume XIV, number 4, New...

Adjective (2) capitalized: Millennial

Millennial (not comparable)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of millennial.
    • Boomers played cassettes in their cars and popularized FM radio. Thirteeners love their compact disks. Today's electronics industry is abuzz with talk of the new digital technology that awaits Millennial teenagers.1991, William Strauss, Neil Howe, “The Past as Prologue”, in Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN, part III (The Future), page...
    • Many people, or at least a handful of very loud people, hate to being dubbed Millennial. They see it as derogatory.2015 August 24, Samantha Sharf, “What is a ‘Millennial’ Anyway? Meet the Man who Coined the Phrase”, in Forbes, New York, N.Y.: Forbes, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Sep 2023

Noun (2) capitalized: Millennial

Millennial (plural Millennials)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of millennial.
    • Someday, Boomers hope, Millennials will build according to great ideals their parents can only envision, act on vital issues their parents can only ponder.1991, William Strauss, Neil Howe, “The Millennial Cycle”, in Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN, part III (The Future), page...
    • Meet the Millennials, born in or after 1982—the "Babies on Board" of the early [Ronald] Reagan years, the "Have You Hugged Your Child Today?" sixth graders of the early [Bill] Clinton years, the teens of Columbine, and, this year, the much-touted high school Class of 2000, now invading the nation's...2000 September, Neil Howe, William Strauss, “The Next Great Generation”, in Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, →ISBN, page 4

Also used as

millennial is also the often capitalized of or relating to.

millennial meaning in Tamil, Telugu, Tagalog and Malay

millennial in Tamil

மில்லினியல்

millennial in Telugu

సహస్రాబ్ది

millennial in Tagalog

person from the generation born in the last two decades of the 20th century
milenyal

millennial in Malay

person from the generation born in the last two decades of the 20th century
milenial
More languagesFewer languages
millennial in Indonesian
milenial

Examples of millennial in a sentence

  • As for Mr. [Thomas] Pynchon's conjuring of millennial New York, it's a total mishmash.2013 September 10, Michiko Kakutani, “A calamity tailor-made for Internet conspiracy theories”, in The New York Times (C section), New...
  • This is that illuſtrious Reign of Chriſt in his Millennial Empire of Love, vvhen the Chriſtian life ſhall take place, and Opinions and Perſecutions ſhall be done avvay.1669, Henry More, “The Preface to the Reader, […]”, in An Exposition of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches; […], London: […] James...
  • But their reciprocal, unſelfiſh Aid, / Affords an Emblem of Millennial Love.1745, [Edward Young], “Night the Ninth and Last. The Consolation. Containing, among Other Things, I. A Moral Survey of the Nocturnal...
  • Every tenant was quite sure things would be different when the reins got into his hands—there was to be a millennial abundance of new gates, allowances of lime, and returns of ten per cent.1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Dairy”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons...

All 40 example sentences with millennial

Synonyms of millennial

Forms of millennial

pluralmillennials
alternative formMillennial
pluralMillennials

Origin of millennial

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Late Latin mīllennium (“millennium”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming nouns). The English word may be analysed as millennium + -al or milli- (prefix meaning ‘thousand’) + -ennial (suffix meaning ‘years’). Adjective sense 5 (“of or relating to, or characteristic of, people born in the last two decades of the 20th century”) was coined by the American authors William Strauss (1947–2007) and Neil Howe (born 1951) in their book Generations (1991): see the quotations. The noun is derived from the adjective.

Words formed from millennial

Phrases with millennial

Words that rhyme with millennial

Questions about millennial

What does millennial mean?
Millennial means thousand-year-old; also (by extension, loosely) thousands of years old.
What is millennial in Tamil?
Millennial in Tamil is மில்லினியல். See Millennial meaning in Tamil.
How do you use millennial in a sentence?
As for Mr. [Thomas] Pynchon's conjuring of millennial New York, it's a total mishmash.
What part of speech is millennial?
Millennial can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce millennial?
Millennial is pronounced /mɪˈlɛn.ɪ.əl/ (UK).

Words near millennial in the dictionary

  1. millenia
  2. millenium
  3. milleniums
  4. millennarian
  5. millennia
  6. millennial
  7. millennial cringe
  8. Millennial Dawnist
  9. Millennial Dawnists
  10. millennial gray
  11. millennial grey

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: millennial (page history and authors); Millennial (page history and authors); millennial (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); millennial (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-millennial.wav.

Cite this entry: “millennial.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/millennial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.