What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between year and season?

year | season |

As nouns the difference between year and season

is that year is the time it takes the earth to complete one revolution of the sun (between 36524 and 36526 days depending on the point of reference) while season is each of the four divisions of a year: spring, summer, autumn and winter; yeartide.

As a verb season is

to flavour food with spices, herbs or salt.

year

English

Alternative forms

* (obsolete) * (obsolete)

Noun

(wikipedia year) (en noun)
  • The time it takes the Earth to complete one revolution of the Sun (between 365.24 and 365.26 days depending on the point of reference).
  • (by extension) The time it takes for any planetary body to make one revolution around another body.
  • A period between set dates that mark a year, from January 1 to December 31 by the Gregorian calendar.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.}}
  • A scheduled part of a calendar year spent in a specific activity.
  • (sciences) A Julian year, exactly 365.25 days, represented by "a".
  • A level or grade in school or college.
  • The proportion of a creature's lifespan equivalent to one year of an average human lifespan (see also dog year).

    • Synonyms

    * (one revolution of the Sun by the Earth) twelvemonth * (time to make one revolution by any body) anomalistic year, Gaussian year, sidereal year, tropical year * (period between set dates) calendar year, civil year, legal year * (specific uses) fiscal year, liturgical year, school year

    Derived terms

    * calendar year * civil year * dog year * donkey's years * fiscal year * gap year * golden years * in the year of our Lord * in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ * last year * leap year * legal year * liturgical year * on in years * school year * sidereal year * sunset years * the year dot * twilight years * yearbook * year by year * year-end * year-long * year of our Lord * year of our Lord Jesus Christ * -year-old * year-round * yearhundred * yearling * yearly * yesteryear

    Related terms

    * (smaller divisions) see'' , &c. * quarter, quarterly, season, seasonal * triannual * biannual, semiannual, twice-yearly * (roughly one year) quasi-annual * yearly, annual, per annum * (ages) See * biennium, biennial * triennium, triennial, trieterical * quadrennium, quadrennial * quinquennium, quinquenniad, quintennium, quinquennial, quintennial * sexennium, sexennial * septennium, septennial, septennary, septenniad, septenary, septenarian, septennian, septennual * octennium, octaeteris, octennial, octaeteric * novennium, novennial, enneaeteric, enneatic * decade, decennium, decadal, decennial * septendecennial * enneadecaeteris * vicennium, vicennial * tricennium, tricennial * century, yearhundred, centennial, centenary, centuried * bicentennial, bicentenary * tricentennial, tricentenary tercentennial, tercentenary * millennium, kiloyear (kyr), yearthousand, millennial * termillenary * megayear (Myr), mega-annum (Ma) * gigayear (Gyr), gigannum (Ga)

    See also

    * day * week * month

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * * 1000 English basic words

    season

    English

    (wikipedia season)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Each of the four divisions of a year: spring, summer, autumn and winter; yeartide.
  • * Addison
    • the several seasons of the year in their beauty
  • A part of a year when something particular happens: mating season'', ''rainy season'', ''football season .
  • *
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season .}}
  • (obsolete) That which gives relish; seasoning.
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,
    • O! she is fallen
    Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea
    Hath drops too few to wash her clean again,
    And salt too little which may season give
    To her foul-tainted flesh.
  • * 1605 , (Shakespeare), The Tragedy of Macbeth, III, 4
    • You lack the season of all natures, sleep.
  • (cricket) The period over which a series of Test matches are played.
  • (North America, broadcasting) A group of episodes of a television or radio program broadcast in regular intervals with a long break between each group, usually with one year between the beginning of each.
    • The third season of ''Friends'' aired from 1996 to 1997.
  • (obsolete) An extended, undefined period of time.
  • * 1656 , , The Mortification of Sin
    • So it is in a person when a breach hath been made upon his conscience, quiet, perhaps credit, by his lust, in some eruption of actual sin; — carefulness, indignation, desire, fear, revenge are all set on work about it and against it, and lust is quiet for a season , being run down before them; but when the hurry is over and the inquest is past, the thief appears again alive, and is as busy as ever at his work.

    Usage notes

    In British English, a year-long group of episodes is called a series, whereas in North American English the word "series" is a synonym of "program" or "show".

    Synonyms

    * (l) * (l)

    Derived terms

    * end-of-season * high season * in season * low season * mating season * midseason * mid-season form * open season * out of season * rutting season * seasonable * seasonal * seasonally * silly season * unseasonally * unseasonable * unseasonably

    Verb

  • To flavour food with spices, herbs or salt.
  • To make fit for any use by time or habit; to habituate; to accustom; to inure; to ripen; to mature; as, to season one to a climate.
  • Hence, to prepare by drying or hardening, or removal of natural juices; as, to season timber.
  • To become mature; to grow fit for use; to become adapted to a climate.
  • To become dry and hard, by the escape of the natural juices, or by being penetrated with other substance; as, timber seasons in the sun.
  • (obsolete) To copulate with; to impregnate.
    • (Holland)

    Anagrams

    *