ninety
Americannoun
plural
nineties-
a cardinal number, ten times nine.
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a symbol for this number, as 90 or XC.
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a set of this many persons or things.
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nineties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 90 through 99, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature.
His grandmother is in her nineties.
adjective
noun
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the cardinal number that is the product of ten and nine See also number
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a numeral, 90, XC, etc, representing this number
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something represented by, representing, or consisting of 90 units
determiner
Usage
Spelling tips for 90 The word ninety (90) is hard to spell because it can be hard to remember whether to include the e from nine when combining it with the suffix -ty. How to spell ninety: To spell ninety, you simply combine the base number (nine) with the suffix -ty, which means "multiple of 10." 9 x 10 = 90 or, in writing, nine + -ty = ninety.
Etymology
Origin of ninety
before 1000; Middle English nineti, Old English nigontig. See nine, -ty 1
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.
Either Maggie hadn’t been forgiven, or she’d been forgotten; nationwide donations for her ongoing care amounted to less than ninety dollars.
From Literature
For example, ten minutes from now, or twenty or ninety, a rainfall may begin.
From Literature
Afridi was clobbered for a six and a four as Brook raced through the "nervous nineties" in two balls, going from 90 to 100 before raising his bat.
From Barron's
He leaves the car running—thankfully, because it’s ninety degrees outside— but flings his door open and runs around to the trunk.
From Literature
“Now I have only nine hundred and ninety to make,” Sadako said.
From Literature
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.
