millennium

1. (countable) A period of time consisting of one thousand years.Examples: "But these seekers, too, are saved - by virtue of the inherited symbolic aids of society, the rites of passage, the grace-yielding sacraments, given to mankind of old by the redeemers and handed down through millenniums."; "The first known man-made tools, including spear points and axes, were associated with a hunting and gathering pattern that lasted, according to anthropologists, almost 200 millennia."; "Magnolias are some of the most primitive of our flowering trees, and fossils dating back millennia prove that they have had little need to evolve."Synonyms: chiliad, kiloannum, mul:ka, kiloyear, kyr, yearthousandcountable

2. (Christianity) The period of one thousand years during which Christ will reign on earth (according to Millenarianist interpretations).Examples: "usher in the millennium"; "The Nazis' concept for the so-called Thousand-Year Reich of their infallible Leader has been described as but a pale pseudoreligious false-prophet imitation of the Christian concept of the millennium of Christ regnant."; "After the purifying judgments which attended the personal return of Christ to the Earth, He will reign over restored Israel and over the earth for one thousand years. This is the period commonly called the Millennium. The seat of His power will be Jerusalem, and the saints, including the saved of the Dispensation of Grace, viz., the Church, will be associated with Him in His glory."

3. (archaic) A long era of universal happiness, peace, and prosperity.Examples: "Near-synonym: utopia"; "usher in the millennium"; "But the aggressive members of society are always tending to become bullies, robbers, and swindlers; and no one believes that such a state of things as we now live in is the millennium."archaic

4. (with definite article) The year in which one period of one thousand years ends and another begins, especially the year 2000.Examples: "A huge fireworks display was put on in Sydney to celebrate the millennium."with-definite-article