millennial

millennial — adjective

IPA/mɪˈleniəl/
KK[mɪlˈɛniəl]IPA/mɪˈleniəl/
  • millennialpositive
  • more millennialcomparative
  • most millennialsuperlative

1. having to do with an interval of one thousand years, especially the events and c

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

having to do with an interval of one thousand years, especially the events and celebrations that took place when the year 2000 began.

Example

The museum opened a special exhibit to mark the millennial celebrations in the capital.

attributive: millennial + celebrations

Scientists used ice-core samples to study millennial shifts in the Earth's average temperature.

attributive: millennial + shifts (scientific context)

Common collocations
  • millennial celebrations
  • millennial anniversary
  • millennial scale
  • millennial cycle
Synonyms
  • thousand-year

    more literal; less common in general English

  • millenarian

    has strong religious connotations of a future golden age; not a direct synonym in most contexts

Grammar Patterns

millennial + noun

Usage Note

This sense is common in historical, geological, and ceremonial writing. Do not confuse with sense 2 (the generation meaning) — the two meanings are unrelated.

2. describing those who entered the world in the years spanning from the early 1980

2.adjectiveB1
Definition

describing those who entered the world in the years spanning from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, roughly 1981 to 1996 — the cohort that reached young adulthood around the turn of the century.

Example

Diya's parents are both millennial professionals who started their careers during the internet boom.

attributive: millennial + professionals

The travel agency launched a new service designed for millennial backpackers visiting Southeast Asia.

Common collocations
  • millennial worker
  • millennial consumer
  • millennial culture
  • millennial generation
  • millennial lifestyle
Synonyms
  • Gen Y

    alternative label for the same generation; more common in business and demographic writing

  • born in the 80s/90s

    descriptive phrase rather than a single-word synonym; less formal

Antonyms
  • baby boomer

    the generation born approximately 1946–1964, often contrasted with millennials

  • Gen X

    the generation born approximately 1965–1980, immediately before millennials

Grammar Patterns

millennial + noun

be + millennial

Usage Note

The exact birth-year range varies by source (some start at 1980, others at 1982). The end date is most commonly given as 1996. In informal use, the term may refer broadly to anyone who was a young adult in the early 2000s.

Common Mistakes

The millennial generation is often called lazy by older people.
Millennials are often called lazy by older people.
As an adjective, 'millennial' describes people born in those years; 'millennial generation' is correct as a noun phrase, but the standalone plural noun 'millennials' is more natural.

millennial — noun

IPA/mɪˈlen.i.əl/
KK[mɪlˈɛniəl]IPA/mɪˈlen.i.əl/

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/2

'Millennial' (specifically the GENERATION BIRTH YEARS sense) and 'Gen Y' refer to the same group of people born roughly 1981–1996, but 'millennial' is far more common in everyday conversation and journalism, while 'Gen Y' appears more often in demographic reports and business writing. 'Gen Z' (born roughly 1997–2012) is the generation that follows, and is often mistakenly lumped together with millennials in casual talk — a useful distinction is that Gen Z grew up with smartphones from childhood, while many millennials remember a pre-smartphone world. 'Baby boomer' (born roughly 1946–1964) is the generation two steps older, and the two groups are frequently contrasted in discussions about housing, work habits, and politics. For example: 'Boomers bought homes in their twenties, but many millennials could not afford to buy until their late thirties.'

millennial ↗Gen YGen Zbaby boomer

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • the millennial generation
  • a millennial mindset
  • millennial burnout

Etymology

LatinEnglish

'Millennial' comes from the Latin word 'millennium', which is formed from 'mille' (one thousand) and 'annus' (year). It originally referred simply to a period of one thousand years. Beginning in the 1990s, as the year 2000 approached, the word took on a new meaning connected to that turning point in the calendar. Sociologists and demographers later adopted it to label the generation that was coming of age around that time — a shift that made 'millennial' one of the rare English words whose primary meaning changed entirely within a single generation.