December

noun

De·​cem·​ber di-ˈsem-bər 

dē-

: the 12th month of the Gregorian calendar

Examples of December in a Sentence

Her birthday is in late December.

This December was not as cold as the past few Decembers have been.

Recent Examples on the Web

Norman Lear died in December of last year at age 101. —Marc Malkin, Variety, 14 May 2024

The company posted $7.1 billion in sales for the year ending December 31, 2023. —Luisa Beltran, Fortune, 13 May 2024

Tesla has been given a July 1 deadline to respond to questions posed by the NHTSA regarding its December recall of more than 2 million electric cars over issues with Autopilot. —William Gavin, Quartz, 13 May 2024

The woman’s lawsuit was initially filed in December 2023 and amended in March. —Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2024

Sagittarius November 22 – December 21 Changing your daily routine might be necessary at present. —Tarot.com, Chicago Tribune, 13 May 2024

In December, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the State Board of Education adopted these new standards, which went into effect on Jan. 3. —Lina Ruiz, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 13 May 2024

Swift last spoke about her feud with both Kardashian and Ye during her wide-ranging interview as TIME’s Person of the Year in December 2023. —Stephen Daw, Billboard, 19 Apr. 2024

The Emerald Sakara will be back in the Caribbean next December, with eight-day cruises starting at $4,100. —Doug Wallace, USA TODAY, 19 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English Decembre, from Old English or Anglo-French, both from Latin December (tenth month), from decem ten — more at ten

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

December

noun

De·​cem·​ber di-ˈsem-bər 

: the twelfth month of the year

Etymology

Middle English Decembre, December "last month of the year," from early French decembre (same meaning), from Latin December, literally, "tenth month," from decem "ten" — related to decimal, dime

Word Origin

In the first calendar used by the ancient Romans, the year began with the month of March. The Romans called the tenth month of the year December, using the Latin word decem, meaning "ten." When the word was borrowed into early French, it became decembre. That was also how it was first spelled when it came into Middle English. In time, however, the English word was changed to match the original Latin in spelling and in having a capital letter.