the millennium

noun

: the beginning of the third period of a thousand years counted from the beginning of the Christian era : the year 2000
We had a party to celebrate the millennium.

Examples of the millennium in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Since the turn of the millennium, Latin America has become a hotbed of electronic dance music, warping countless homegrown rhythms at block parties, bedrooms, and mega clubs across the region. — Richard Villegas, Rolling Stone, 12 Oct. 2026 But the union report, prepared by EY, takes a longer-term view, showing that the globalization of production has been underway since the turn of the millennium. — Gene Maddaus, Variety, 5 Oct. 2026 Fuelled in part by the overprescription of painkillers like OxyContin in the 1990s, the market for unregulated substitutes exploded into what became regarded as an epidemic by the turn of the millennium. — New Atlas, 30 Sep. 2026 That began to change around the turn of the millennium, when physicists started smashing gold ions together at nearly the speed of light inside the giant particle accelerator at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island in New York State. — Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 28 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for the millennium

Rhymes for the millennium

See All Rhymes for the millennium

Browse Nearby Words

the Milky Way
the millennium
the mind boggles
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“The millennium.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20millennium. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of compunction

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All