anniversary

anniversary — noun

1. a calendar day that returns each year to mark when something memorable first hap

1.nounB1
Definition

a calendar day that returns each year to mark when something memorable first happened, such as a wedding, a death, or the founding of a country, and is often celebrated or remembered.

Example

Mei and Jacob held a small dinner to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.

collocation: wedding anniversary; ordinal + anniversary

The school marked the 50th anniversary of its founding with a quiet ceremony in the courtyard.

pattern: the [Nth] anniversary of [event]

Common collocations
  • wedding anniversary
  • tenth/fiftieth anniversary
  • anniversary of someone's death
  • celebrate an anniversary
  • mark an anniversary
Synonyms
  • jubilee

    specifically a 25th, 50th, or 60th anniversary, usually of a reign or institution

  • commemoration

    an act of remembering a past event, not necessarily on a yearly cycle

  • milestone

    any significant point reached, not tied to a calendar date

Grammar Patterns

[N] of [event]

on one's [Nth] anniversary

Usage Note

Almost always countable and singular with a possessive or ordinal modifier (their anniversary, the 25th anniversary). The event being remembered is introduced with 'of' (the anniversary of the bombing).

Common Mistakes

We celebrated our anniversary day yesterday.
We celebrated our anniversary yesterday.
'anniversary' already means the day, so 'anniversary day' is redundant.
It is the anniversary for our company.
It is the anniversary of our company's founding.
use 'of' + the event being remembered, not 'for'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words mark a date that is remembered, but they differ in scope and tone. 'Anniversary' is the everyday word for any yearly return of a meaningful date, from a wedding to a tragedy. 'Jubilee' is more formal and traditional; it usually refers to a 25th, 50th, or 60th year of a reign, a religious office, or a long-running institution, and carries a celebratory feeling. 'Commemoration' is the most solemn of the four and need not be yearly; it focuses on the act of remembering, especially loss or sacrifice, as in a war commemoration. 'Birthday' is reserved for the yearly date of a person's birth, never for events. So we say 'their wedding anniversary', 'the Queen's Silver Jubilee', 'a commemoration of the victims', and 'her tenth birthday'.

anniversary ↗jubileecommemorationbirthday ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • wedding anniversary
  • anniversary celebration
  • anniversary gift
  • anniversary edition

Phrases

  • happy anniversary
  • mark an anniversary
  • celebrate an anniversary
  • the [Nth] anniversary of

Prepositions

  • on (one's) anniversary
  • anniversary of

Etymology

LatinChurch LatinMiddle EnglishEnglish

From Latin 'anniversarius', built from 'annus' meaning 'year' and 'versus' meaning 'turned' — literally 'turning back each year'. It entered Middle English in the 13th century through Church Latin, where it first named the yearly remembrance of a saint's death, before broadening to any yearly return of a notable date.