dime
Americannoun
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a cupronickel-clad coin of the U.S. and Canada, the 10th part of a dollar, equal to 10 cents.
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Slang.
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ten dollars.
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a 10-year prison sentence.
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idioms
noun
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a coin of the US and Canada, worth one tenth of a dollar or ten cents
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very cheap or common
Etymology
Origin of dime
1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French di ( s ) me < Latin decima tenth part, tithe, noun use of feminine of decimus tenth, derivative of decem ten
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The auditor said he isn’t out to nickel and dime anyone.
“Yeah,” I said as I shoved the little box down in my pocket, “I’d like a dime’s worth of jawbreakers.”
From Literature
That dime appeared to drop for stock market investors Monday.
From Los Angeles Times
Unless you’re the importer of record—and maybe even then—you won’t get back a dime of the duty you paid.
One important proposal: Let parents who choose to expose their wannabe-elite athlete children to unaccountable authority figures, in pursuit of college athletic scholarships and Olympic glory, do so on their own dime.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
