Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The 12th month of the year in the Gregorian calendar.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun That month of the year in which the sun touches the tropic of Capricorn at the winter solstice, being then at his greatest distance south of the equator; the twelfth and last month according to the modern mode of reckoning time, having thirty-one days. In the Roman calendar it was the tenth month, reckoning from March. Abbreviated Dec.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • proper noun The twelfth and last month of the year, containing thirty-one days. During this month occurs the winter solstice.
  • proper noun Fig.: With reference to the end of the year and to the winter season.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun The twelfth and last month of the Gregorian calendar, following November and preceding the January of the following year. Abbreviation: Dec or Dec.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the last (12th) month of the year

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English decembre, from Old French, from Latin December, the tenth month of the Roman year, probably from *decemmembris, from *decem-mēnsris : decem, ten; see dekm̥ in Indo-European roots + mēnsis, month; see menses.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English decembre, from Old French decembre, from Latin december ("tenth month"), from Latin decem ("ten"), from Proto-Indo-European *dekm, ten; December was the tenth month in the Roman calendar.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word December.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.