Meaning & use
annually
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Meanings
adverbnot comparable
Once every year, or at yearly intervals.
Grammar: Placed after the verb or at the end: held annually; it meets annually.
Patterns
- be held annually
- meet annually
The festival is held annually in July.
Insurance premiums are reviewed annually.
The committee meets annually to elect new officers.
adverbnot comparable
For each year, as a yearly rate or total.
Grammar: Often used with amounts: earns $50,000 annually.
Patterns
- earn something annually
- cost something annually
The company earns about two million dollars annually.
The city spends millions annually on road repairs.
Roughly ten thousand people visit the park annually.
Common combinations
- held annually
- The conference is held annually in Chicago.
- renewed annually
- The license must be renewed annually.
- inspected annually
- The boiler is inspected annually.
- increase annually
- Fees increase annually by three percent.
- paid annually
- The subscription is paid annually.
Synonyms and how they differ
- yearly
- Yearly is the everyday word, while annually is slightly more formal and is common in business.
- every year
- Every year is the plain phrase and works at the start of a sentence, where annually often sounds stiff.
- per annum
- Per annum is Latin and appears with rates and salaries, as in 5 percent per annum.
- once a year
- Once a year stresses the single occurrence and is common in speech.
Opposites
Word family
- annual adjective
- happening every year
- annual noun
- a plant that lives one year, or a yearly publication
- anniversary noun
- the yearly return of a date
- biannually adverb
- twice a year
Commonly confused: annually or biannually? annually or semiannually?
annually vs biannually
Biannually means twice a year, whereas biennially means every two years. Annually means just once a year.
annually vs semiannually
Semiannually clearly means twice a year and avoids the common mix-up with biennially.
Practice
The festival takes place once every year, so it is held ____.
Choose one answer.
Annually means once every year. Biennially means every two years, and monthly and weekly are more frequent.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “annually”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.