twenty

American  

[twen-tee, twuhn-] / ˈtwɛn ti, ˈtwʌn- /

noun

• twenties
  plural

1. a cardinal number, 10 times 2.

2. a symbol for this number, as 20 or XX.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. Informal. a twenty-dollar bill.

   Can you give me two tens for a twenty?

5. twenties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 20 through 29, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or referring to degrees of temperature.

   He lives in the West Twenties. She's in her early twenties. The temperature must be in the high twenties today.

6. Slang. Also 20 location; ten-twenty.

   What’s your twenty?

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adjective

1. amounting to 20 in number.

twenty British  

/ ˈtwɛntɪ /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of ten and two; a score See also number

2. a numeral, 20, XX, etc, representing this number

3. something representing, represented by, or consisting of 20 units

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to twenty

      twenty questions

   2. ( as pronoun )

      to order twenty

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• twenties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of twenty

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English twēntig; cognate with Old Frisian tw(e)intich, Old High German zweinzug ( German zwanzig ), Gothic twai tigjus two tens

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

twenty twenties

But it might also be dinner for an exhausted parent who wants twenty minutes back and misses what the inside of a restaurant tastes like.

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026

The results provide experimental support for an idea proposed about twenty years ago called the "DNA zipper" model.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026

Only a week ago, Korea announced that in the first twenty days of August alone exports had risen by 56% year over year to $55 billion.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

As Thomas Jefferson observed: “It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

I stayed home and I learned and I had more fun than a kitten with twenty balls of yarn and three pretend mice.

From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan

For most, it will be dry with sunny spells and temperatures will peak in the high teens to the low twenties Celsius.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

“I’ve spent my entire twenties sitting across from the most incredible people, people I’d always dreamt of meeting,” she wrote.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

And she noted that she has two children in their twenties who are struggling with housing costs and who oppose the project.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

"I think it's definitely shifting," said Nizier Lawrence, in his early twenties.

From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026

He looked to be in his early twenties, and he was, like everyone else, punching on his BlackBerry the whole time Miller and Eisman spoke.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis