Definition

Noun: 1. The calendar year just begun: Refers specifically to the period marking the start of a new calendar year, often celebrated as a holiday. 2. The celebration associated with the beginning of the year: Denotes the festivities, customs, and the holiday period itself that commences on January 1st in the Gregorian calendar.

Usage and Examples

• General Use:
  • We always make resolutions at the start of the new year.
  • The company's fiscal plans are reviewed every new year.
• Referring to the Holiday:
  • How did you celebrate the New Year?
  • I will see you in the New Year. (Implies after the New Year's Day holiday)

Advanced Usage and Notes

• Capitalization: The term is often capitalized as "New Year" when referring specifically to the holiday on January 1st or the period of celebration surrounding it (e.g., Happy New Year!). In more general references to the year as a unit of time, it is often not capitalized (e.g., the new year brought many changes).
• "The New Year": This definite form typically refers to the imminent or recently begun year as a distinct period.
  • What are your plans for the New Year?

Variants and Related Phrases

• New Year's Day: The first day of the year, January 1st, observed as a holiday.
  • We have a day off work on New Year's Day.
• New Year's Eve: The evening of December 31st, the day before New Year's Day.
  • They hosted a party on New Year's Eve.
• New Year's resolution: A promise to oneself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad at the beginning of the new year.
  • Her New Year's resolution is to exercise more.

Synonyms

• Beginning of the year: A more formal or descriptive synonym.
• Year's commencement: A formal term for the start of the year.

Common Expressions and Idioms

• Ring in the new year: To celebrate the beginning of the new year.
  • We're going to the city square to ring in the new year.
• Out with the old, in with the new: An expression often used around the New Year, meaning to leave old things behind and start fresh.
  • It's time for out with the old, in with the new.
• Happy New Year!: The traditional greeting used to wish someone well for the new year.

Noun

1. the calendar year just begun