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bicentenary

bicentenary

1 7.7
The two hundredth anniversary of an event or the celebration for it
  • noun
  • /ˌbaɪsɛnˈtɛnəri/
  • UK
: bicentenario
  • In British Columbia, for example, we heard a great deal about the bicentenary of Captain George Vancouver's visit to the West Coast of North America.

Examples

  • PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Haldane in Singapore, December 1958, for the Centenary and Bicentenary Conference of the University of Malaysia.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Australia celebrated its bicentenary in 1988.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Darwin's bicentenary also marks 150 years since the publication of The Origin of Species and 50 years since the establishment of the national park.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Welcome back to Darwin's Legacy, our course in honour of the Darwin Bicentenary on the impact of evolutionary thinking.

  • Everest, Kelvin, ed. Percy Bysshe Shelley: Bicentenary Essays.

    Academic text (1993)
  • The latter exhibition was mounted in part to celebrate both the fiftieth anniversary of Ghanaian independence and the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.

    Academic text (2010)
  • In 1989, on the bicentenary of the fall of the Bastille, Umberto Eco conducted a survey (in the Italian magazine Espresso) which asked, among other questions, "Who was the greatest hero of the French Revolution?"

    Academic text (2000)
  • On 12 December 1989, the bicentenary year of the French Revolution, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger refused to take part in the opening Republican ceremony led by Abbe Gregoire at the Pantheon.

    Academic text (1995)
  • In 2007, Britain marked the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade.

  • Australia celebrated its bicentenary in 1988.

Synonyms

bicentennial
vsbicentenary
  • US
8 6.5

The 200th anniversary of an important event or its celebration

is identical in meaning but is a different lexical form used instead

Surface Forms

bicentenary singular
bicentenaries plural

Morphology

bicentenary = centenary (transparent) = bi + centenary

Formed by prefixing 'bi-' (two) to 'centenary', yielding the 200th anniversary.

Etymology

Bicentenary combines bi- 'two' and century 'hundred years', similar to centennial for 100 years. So, the bicentenary is the 200th anniversary of an event or the celebration that marks those two hundred years.