millennial

adj

1. (not-comparable)Thousand-year-old; also (by extension, loosely) thousands of years old.

   “The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee / About his shadowy sides: above him swell / Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; […]”

2. (not-comparable)Occurring every thousand years.
3. (not-comparable)Occurring at, or relating to, the beginning or end of a millennium.

   “[I]t is highly likely that some preachers may have called on millennial frettings for their purposes. The theologian Abbo of Fleury recalled a premillennial sermon in his youth which did precisely this.”

   “But I would urge you to resist the temptation to swoon into "Waking Life" as though it were a dizzy millennial throwback to a 60's trip movie.”

   “As for Mr. [Thomas] Pynchon's conjuring of millennial New York, it's a total mishmash.”

4. (not-comparable)Referring to the thousandth anniversary of an event or happening.

   “a millennial fair”

5. (alt-of, broadly, capitalized, not-comparable, often)Often capitalized: of or relating to, or characteristic of, people born in the last two decades of the 20th century from around the early 1980s to the mid 1990s (with 1996 births cited as the last Millennial year), and who reached adulthood early in the third millennium C.E.

   “the millennial generation”

   “He was suffering from a typical millennial problem: Which is the correct emoji to use?”

   “Boomers played cassettes in their cars and popularized FM radio. Thirteeners love their compact disks. Today's electronics industry is abuzz with talk of the new digital technology that awaits Millennial teenagers.”

   “When the staccato, Neptunes-ian single "Boyfriend" was released in March, musical prognosticators were quick to peg the album it portended, Believe, as Justin Bieber's Justified, a grown-and-sexy, R&B-centric departure that evolved millennial teenybopper Justin Timberlake into one of the unifying pop-music figures of the aughts.”

   “Many people, or at least a handful of very loud people, hate to being dubbed Millennial. They see it as derogatory.”

6. (not-comparable)Synonym of millenarian (“pertaining to the belief in an impending period of one thousand years of peace and righteousness associated with the Second Coming of Christ and his reign on earth”).

   “the millennial judgment”

   “VVhereas the very Povver of the Civil Magisſtrate and his ſecurity is hazarded by vvild and hot-ſpirited men, that vvould raiſe a Fifth Monarchie by Bloud and Rapine, and tumble dovvn all Government, […] and that they are the Pioners to level all plain, and break all Government in pieces, that Chriſt, the Fifth Monarch, may perſonally come and begin his Millennial Empire upon Earth; […]”

   “This is that illuſtrious Reign of Chriſt in his Millennial Empire of Love, vvhen the Chriſtian life ſhall take place, and Opinions and Perſecutions ſhall be done avvay.”

   “But their reciprocal, unſelfiſh Aid, / Affords an Emblem of Millennial Love.”

   “Every tenant was quite sure things would be different when the reins got into his hands—there was to be a millennial abundance of new gates, allowances of lime, and returns of ten per cent.”

7. (alt-of, not-comparable)Alternative letter-case form of millennial.

   “Boomers played cassettes in their cars and popularized FM radio. Thirteeners love their compact disks. Today's electronics industry is abuzz with talk of the new digital technology that awaits Millennial teenagers.”

   “Many people, or at least a handful of very loud people, hate to being dubbed Millennial. They see it as derogatory.”

noun

1. Often capitalized: a person from the generation born in the last two decades of the 20th century, from around the early 1980s to the mid-1990s and who reached adulthood early in the third millennium C.E., characterized by their familiarity with computer technology and poorer financial prospects than their parents.

   “Someday, Boomers hope, Millennials will build according to great ideals their parents can only envision, act on vital issues their parents can only ponder.”

   “Meet the Millennials, born in or after 1982—the "Babies on Board" of the early [Ronald] Reagan years, the "Have You Hugged Your Child Today?" sixth graders of the early [Bill] Clinton years, the teens of Columbine, and, this year, the much-touted high school Class of 2000, now invading the nation's campuses.”

   “When we saw Millennials as kids being raised so differently, we could already make an easy prediction. We had seen this dark to bright contrast in child upbringing before many times in American history, so we already foresaw that by the time you got to 2000 you would see huge changes in people in their late teens and early 20s.”

   “In a bumper for a newsmagazine program, a reporter muses: “[It’s] the year of the yuppie, but what is a yuppie?” That’s right, fellow millennials: Not long ago, young people had so much economic opportunity that their generation was defined by its upward mobility.”

   “According to the New York Post, more millennials and Gen Zs are choosing to rent indefinitely, reshaping how property managers must think about long-term tenant satisfaction and retention.”

2. (obsolete, rare)A thousandth anniversary; also, a celebration of such an anniversary.

   “The Magyar celebrates the millennial of Hungary, not of Austro-Hungary.”

3. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of millennial.

   “Someday, Boomers hope, Millennials will build according to great ideals their parents can only envision, act on vital issues their parents can only ponder.”

   “Meet the Millennials, born in or after 1982—the "Babies on Board" of the early [Ronald] Reagan years, the "Have You Hugged Your Child Today?" sixth graders of the early [Bill] Clinton years, the teens of Columbine, and, this year, the much-touted high school Class of 2000, now invading the nation's campuses.”

   “When we saw Millennials as kids being raised so differently, we could already make an easy prediction. We had seen this dark to bright contrast in child upbringing before many times in American history, so we already foresaw that by the time you got to 2000 you would see huge changes in people in their late teens and early 20s.”