era

era — noun

1. a long stretch of history that has its own special character, shaped by the even

1.nounB1
Definition

a long stretch of history that has its own special character, shaped by the events, people, or developments happening during it

Example

The Victorian era in Britain was known for strict social rules and rapid industrial growth.

era named after a ruler (Victorian era)

Feng's grandfather often talked about the era before television and the internet existed.

Common collocations
  • new era
  • modern era
  • digital era
  • bygone era
  • era of peace
  • enter an era
  • usher in an era
Synonyms
  • age

    slightly narrower in scope — often used for a period defined by a single dominant figure or force, e.g. the age of Shakespeare

  • period

    more neutral and flexible — can be shorter or less historically weighty than an era

  • epoch

    more formal or technical; in geology it is a subdivision of a period, but in general use it highlights a striking new beginning

Grammar Patterns

era of + noun

era when/in which + clause

Usage Note

Often paired with a proper name or key feature that defines the period, e.g. the Elizabethan era, the Cold War era, the digital era.

Common Mistakes

The Jurassic era was when dinosaurs lived.
The Jurassic period was when dinosaurs lived.
'era' in general use refers to history or culture; for geological time divisions, 'period' is more precise for the Jurassic, while 'era' refers to a larger unit like the Mesozoic.

2. a moment in history when major changes begin, so that life or a situation from t

2.nounB2
Definition

a moment in history when major changes begin, so that life or a situation from that point on feels very different from before

Example

The peace agreement marked a new era for the war-torn region.

new era — collocation for turning points

Hamza believed that space exploration would open a whole new era for humanity.

Common collocations
  • dawn of a new era
  • usher in an era
  • mark an era
  • enter an era
  • new era
  • era of peace
  • era of prosperity
Synonyms
  • new age

    overlaps but often carries a spiritual or cultural flavour (new age of enlightenment)

  • dawn

    more poetic and dramatic (the dawn of a new era)

  • chapter

    suggests a new part of a longer story, less sweeping than era

Grammar Patterns

a/an + adjective + era

era of + noun

Usage Note

Almost always appears with an adjective like new, whole new, different, or bright. Distinguish from sense 1: this sense emphasises a sharp break with the past, not simply a stretch of years with a given character.

Common Mistakes

The country entered a new era after the storm.
The country entered a new era after the peace treaty.
A new era implies a major shift in human conditions or society, not a temporary weather event.

3. one of the largest divisions of time used in the study of the earth's history, c

3.nounB2
Definition

one of the largest divisions of time used in the study of the earth's history, covering hundreds of millions of years, and made up of shorter units called periods

Example

The Mesozoic era is known as the age of the dinosaurs.

proper name + era — standard geological naming

Scientists study rock layers to understand what happened during each geological era.

Common collocations
  • Mesozoic era
  • Cenozoic era
  • Paleozoic era
  • geological era
  • era ended with
Synonyms
  • eon

    a longer division than an era; the largest unit in the geological time scale

  • age

    used informally for the same concept (the age of dinosaurs), but not a precise geological term for this level of division

Grammar Patterns

the + [name] + era

Usage Note

In geology, the hierarchy from largest to smallest is: eon → era → period → epoch. Common named eras include the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. Unlike sense 1, this sense is not used with descriptive modifiers (a peaceful era).

Common Mistakes

The Triassic era is part of the Mesozoic.
The Triassic period is part of the Mesozoic era.
In geology, the Triassic is a period, not an era, within the Mesozoic era.

Word family

  • epochal
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words refer to a stretch of time, but they differ in scope and tone. Era is the broadest for everyday use — it describes a long historical stretch defined by its character (the digital era). Age often highlights a single dominant force or person (the age of Shakespeare, the Iron Age). Period is the most flexible and neutral — it can be as short as a few decades (the Romantic period in music) or as long as an era, and it is the standard term in geology for the second-largest division. Epoch is more formal or dramatic in non-technical use, emphasising a striking new beginning (an epoch of exploration); in geology it is the smallest standard division, shorter than a period. In everyday writing, era and age are largely interchangeable, but period is safer when you need a neutral term, and epoch adds a rhetorical weight. For example: 'The Victorian era was a period of great change' sounds natural; 'The Victorian epoch' sounds overly dramatic for most contexts.

era ↗age ↗period ↗epoch

Common collocations

Nouns

  • era + of + noun (era of peace, era of exploration)
  • adjective + era (modern era, digital era, new era)

Phrases

  • dawn of a new era
  • usher in an era
  • mark an era
  • enter an era
  • era comes to an end

Prepositions

  • in an era
  • during an era
  • through an era
  • since the era of

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Era entered English in the early 1600s from Latin aera, which originally meant 'counters used for reckoning' (small brass tokens used in calculation). By extension it came to mean 'a fixed starting point for counting years' and eventually 'a system of chronological notation'. The modern meaning — a distinctive period of history — developed in the 1700s. The geological sense emerged in the 1800s as scientists began to divide the earth's history into named time blocks.