Millenaries

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals who believe in or await a transformation or event happening every thousand years
2. Followers of a doctrine that predicts significant changes in the world at the turn of every millennium
3. A collective that anticipates or promotes the coming of a utopian age coinciding with the dawn of each thousand-year cycle

Etymology: "Millenaries" is the plural of "millenary", a noun for a group that expects or works toward a utopian age arriving at the start of each thousand-year span. The root is the Latin "mīllēnārius", meaning "consisting of a thousand", built from "mille" (thousand). The Latin adjective was used for things counted in thousands, and English later borrowed it as a term for the believers themselves. The word's sense is tied to a long Christian expectation drawn from the Book of Revelation, which describes a thousand-year reign of Christ. Groups who anticipated that period, called the millennium, became known as millenaries, and the word carries that religious background even when it is used loosely for anyone expecting a sudden transformation of the world.