Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

decade

Syllabification: (dec·ade)
Pronunciation: /ˈdekād/

Translate decade | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of decade

noun

  • 1a period of ten years:he taught at the university for nearly a decade
  • a period of ten years beginning with a year ending in 0 (or, by another reckoning, 1):the fourth decade of the nineteenth century
  • 2a set, series, or group of ten, in particular.
  • /ˈdekid/ each of the five divisions of each chapter of the rosary.

Derivatives

decadal

Pronunciation: /ˈdekədl/

adjective

Origin:

late Middle English (denoting each of ten parts of a literary work): via Old French and late Latin from Greek deka 'ten'. decade (sense 1) dates from the early 17th century

Note that when decade means ‘a division of the rosary,’ the pronunciation is distinct: the stress is on dec-, but the second syllable sounds like id, not ade.

decade in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of decade in the British & World English dictionary