The concept of "anniversary"

[th.19]

Hello teachers, this is my first post :)

I have a question about the word "anniversary" and its concept.

I've looked it up in the dictionary, where it says that an anniversary is the exact date after a year of number of years after a certain event.

i.e. They will celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary on January 5th.

But could it also be used to mean the whole year which includes the "exact date"?

i.e. They are planning to go Hawaii in 2013, their 5th wedding anniversary.


Thank you for your help in advance!

[5jj]

i.e. They are planning to go Hawaii in 2013, their 5th wedding anniversary.

We would understand that to mean that they were travelling on or around the actual date; we would almost certainly put 'on' or 'aound' before the words 'their 5th wedding anniversary". We don't use 'anniversary' for a whole year.

[th.19]

Ok --- thank you for your response!

[Raymott]

We don't use 'anniversary' for a whole year.

Not usually. However, such sentences as the following are acceptable:
Many classical music concerts in 2006 featured works by Mozart, in celebration of the 250th anniversay of his birth.
2001 was the year of the 100th anniversary of Australian federation.

[th.19]

Sorry for the late reply.

That's precisely what I was aiming for --- thanks for clearing things up!

[BobK]

One point to be aware of: in many languages the cognate (anniversaire, aniversário etc) means 'birthday'. In English it doesn't, in fact - in the right context - it can mean quite the opposite: He always went to the cemetery on his father's anninversary.

b