Okuzeka
Business English vocabulary · Working Life

Annual leave

Meaning in business english, with examples

/ˌænjuəl ˈliːv/nounCore term

In business english, annual leave means: The paid days off work that an employee is entitled to each year, often used for holidays.

In Turkish: yıllık izin, izin

How it is used

Mostly British; Americans usually say 'vacation' or 'PTO' (paid time off). You take, book or request annual leave, and you are 'on leave'. 'I've got five days of annual leave left' is a typical sentence.

Example sentences

  1. I'm on annual leave from 5 to 16 August, with limited access to email.

  2. Please request annual leave through the HR system at least two weeks in advance.

Common collocations

  • take annual leave
  • on annual leave
  • book annual leave
  • days of annual leave
  • annual leave allowance
  • out of officeAway from work, for example on holiday or a business trip; also the automatic email reply that tells senders you are away.
  • HRShort for human resources: the department that deals with hiring, contracts, pay, training, leave and employee relations.
  • overtimeTime worked beyond your normal working hours, or the extra money paid for that time.
  • line managerThe person directly above you in a company who assigns your work, approves your leave and reviews your performance.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Working Life

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: