centenary

[ sen-ten-uh-ree, sen-tn-er-ee; especially British sen-tee-nuh-ree ]

adjective

1. of or relating to a period of 100 years.
2. recurring once in every 100 years:

   a centenary celebration.

noun

, plural cen·ten·ar·ies.

1. a centennial.
2. a period of 100 years; century.

centenary

/ sɛnˈtiːnərɪ /

adjective

1. of or relating to a period of 100 years
2. occurring once every 100 years

noun

1. a 100th anniversary or its celebration

Word History and Origins

Origin of centenary¹

1600–10; < Latin centēnārius (adj.), equivalent to centēn ( ī ) a hundred each ( cent ( um ) 100 + -ēnī distributive suffix) + -ārius -ary

Word History and Origins

Origin of centenary¹

C17: from Latin centēnārius of a hundred, from centēnī a hundred each, from centum hundred

Example Sentences

Branagh’s film gets its release in the same year as the centenary of the Partition of Ireland, marking 100 years of a divided island.

From Time

Soon after he assumed the party’s top job in 2012, Xi set a deadline for completing national rejuvenation by the PRC’s own centenary in 2049.

From Time

Perhaps more significant is that the awards come ahead of the Communist Party’s centenary in July, a politically sensitive event for China’s leaders.

From Washington Post

Nobel Prize winners at a dinner to honor the centenary of the birth of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel prizes.

From Ozy

Then in 1989, I was asked to work on the Eisenhower Centenary.

From The Daily Beast

On the centenary of World War I, Europe's suddenly facing a crisis of Russian aggression.

From The Daily Beast

Martin Luther King asked President John Kennedy to issue a new emancipation proclamation on the centenary of the first.

From The Daily Beast

Thus are the historiographical trenches dug for the centenary.

From The Daily Beast

July 31 marks the centenary of the birth of the high priest of monetarism, Milton Friedman.

From The Daily Beast

Seven years from this present time will witness the Centenary of the railway system.

From Project Gutenberg

The centenary of Petrarch celebrated at Avignon in 1874 tended to emphasize the importance and the glory of the new literature.

From Project Gutenberg

A large number assembled to celebrate the centenary of Cook's death.

From Project Gutenberg

It also thinks that the Tribune is a try weakly and unique daily, besides being a four centenary.

From Project Gutenberg

The fifth centenary of his birthday, on the twenty-eighth of November, was to be kept with great rejoicings therefore.

From Project Gutenberg