triple
Americanadjective
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threefold; consisting of three parts.
a triple knot.
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of three kinds; threefold in character or relationship.
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three times as great.
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International Law. tripartite.
noun
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an amount, number, etc., three times as great as another.
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a group, set, or series of three; something threefold; triad.
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Also called three-base hit. Baseball. a base hit that enables a batter to reach third base safely.
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Bowling. three strikes in succession.
verb (used with object)
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to make triple.
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Baseball. to cause to come into home plate by a triple.
to triple a runner home; to triple a run in.
verb (used without object)
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to become triple.
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Baseball. to make a triple.
adjective
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consisting of three parts; threefold
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(of musical time or rhythm) having three beats in each bar
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three times as great or as much
noun
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a threefold amount
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a group of three
verb
Usage
What is a basic definition of triple? Triple describes something as being made of three parts or being three times as great. Triple also means a set of three. The word triple has several other senses as an adjective, noun, and verb. In any sense, the word triple always has to do with the number three.Triple often describes something that is made of three parts or contains three of something.
- Real-life examples: A triple-layer cake has three layers. A triple homicide involves the murder of three people. A triple-decker bus has three decks of seats. A cardplayer who has triple aces has three cards with aces on them.
- Used in a sentence: My famous triple-layer cake has two layers of chocolate cake and one layer of vanilla cake.
- Used in a sentence: I sold my bike for $300, which is triple the $100 I paid for it.
- Used in a sentence: I think I will triple the tablespoons of sugar in the next batch of lemonade from 2 tablespoons to 6.
- Used in a sentence: The shirts were packaged together in triples of red, white, and blue.
Other Word Forms
- triply adverb
Etymology
Origin of triple
1325–75; Middle English (noun and v.) < Latin triplus (adj.), equivalent to tri- tri- + ( du ) plus duple
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.
But German defense stocks—dominated by the tank maker Rheinmetall—more than tripled in the first nine months of last year, before easing a little.
Since then the Greens say their membership has almost tripled from 68,500 to more than 190,000, while national opinion polls also suggest growing support for the party.
From BBC
Shares in pure plays have doubled—and in some cases tripled—over the past 12 months.
From Barron's
Pity it now goes for one more triple lutz that leaves the series limping.
From Los Angeles Times
The city hosted 119 new listings last year that raised HK$286.9 billion, more than triple the funds raised the previous year, with two of them among the world’s top five IPOs for the year.
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.
