millennial
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /mɪˈlɛ.nɪ.əl/
ipa: /məˈlɛ.ni.əl/
rhymes: -ɛniəl
Forms: form: Millennial
Etymology: 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’).
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.
Senses: examples: text: The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee / About his shadowy sides: above him swell / Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; […]
ref: 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
glosses: Thousand-year-old; also (by extension, loosely) thousands of years old.
glosses: Occurring every thousand years.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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 original on 17 Apr 2023, page 15:
text: As for Mr. [Thomas] Pynchon's conjuring of millennial New York, it's a total mishmash.
ref: 2013 September 10, Michiko Kakutani, “A calamity tailor-made for Internet conspiracy theories”, in The New York Times (C section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 Sep 2023, page 1:
glosses: Occurring at, or relating to, the beginning or end of a millennium.
examples: text: a millennial fair
glosses: Referring to the thousandth anniversary of an event or happening.
examples: text: the millennial generation
text: He was suffering from a typical millennial problem: Which is the correct emoji to use?
text: 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.
ref: 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 352:
text: When the staccato, Neptunes-ian single "Boyfriend" was released in March, musical prognosticators were quick to peg the album it portended, Believe, as Justin Bieber's Justified, a grown-and-sexy, R&B-centric departure that evolved millennial teenybopper Justin Timberlake into one of the unifying pop-music figures of the aughts.
ref: 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2023:
text: Many people, or at least a handful of very loud people, hate to being dubbed Millennial. They see it as derogatory.
ref: 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:
text: But, while many have jumped to label the astrology boom as another millennial trend, that may not actually be the case.
ref: 2018 March 22, Wilder Davies, “Mercury Is Entering Retrograde Again. This Is Why So Many People Care”, in Time:
text: We make hits / Two broke millennial men / And we'd do it again
ref: 2024, “We Make Hits”, in James Smith (lyrics), Where's My Utopia?, performed by Yard Act:
topics: demographics
demography
glosses: Often capitalized: of or relating to, or characteristic of, people born in the last two decades of the 20th century from around the early 1980s to the mid 1990s (with 1996 births cited as the last Millennial year), and who reached adulthood early in the third millennium C.E.
examples: text: the millennial judgment
text: 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 Chriſt, the Fifth Monarch, may perſonally come and begin his Millennial Empire upon Earth; […]
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 1669, Henry More, “[https://books.google.com/books?id=6ipkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP70 The Preface to the Reader, […]]”, in An Exposition of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches; […], London: […] James Flesher, →OCLC:
text: But their reciprocal, unſelfiſh Aid, / Affords an Emblem of Millennial Love.
ref: 1745, [Edward Young], “Night the Ninth and Last. The Consolation. Containing, among Other Things, I. A Moral Survey of the Nocturnal Heavens. II. A Night-Address to the Deity. […]”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: […] [Samuel Richardson] for A[ndrew] Millar […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1750, →OCLC, page 320:
text: 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.
ref: 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Dairy”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, page 156:
topics: Christianity
synonyms: word: millenniary
word: millenarian
extra: 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
glosses: 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”).
Coordinate terms: semiannual · annual · biennial · triennial · quadrennial · quinquennial
quintennial · sextennial · septennial · octennial · novennial · decennary
decennial · sesquidecennial · centennial · sesquicentennial · bicentennial · tricentennial · quadricentennial · bimillennial · trimillennial · quadrimillennial · decamillennial
Derived terms: amillennial
amillennialism
amillennialist
antemillennial
bimillennial
decamillennial
millennialism
millennialist
millennially
millennial pause
millennial pink
millennial whoop
milliberal
multimillennial
postmillennial
post-millennial
premillennial
pre-millennial
quadrimillennial
submillennial
trimillennial
Zillennial
Related terms: word: millenarianism
word: millenarism
word: millenary
word: millennianism
word: millenniary
word: millennium