fifty

American  

[fif-tee] / ˈfɪf ti /

noun

• fifties
  plural

1. a cardinal number, ten times five.

2. a symbol for this number, as 50 or L.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. fifties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 50 through 59, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature.

   She lives in the East Fifties. He's in his late fifties. It's going to be in the fifties again today.

5. Informal. a fifty-dollar bill.

   He had a fifty and two tens in his wallet.

---

adjective

1. amounting to 50 in number.

fifty British  

/ ˈfɪftɪ /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of ten and five

2. a numeral, 50, L, etc, representing this number

3. something represented by, representing, or consisting of 50 units

---

determiner

1. 1. amounting to fifty

      fifty people

   2. ( as pronoun )

      fifty should be sufficient

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fifties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fifty

before 900; Middle English; Old English fīftig. See five, -ty ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fifty fifties

Two hundred fifty years on, the principles of our country’s founding are still woven into the fabric of U.S. society.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

To investigate this connection, the team studied a large multicenter group consisting of fifty patients and one hundred brain hemispheres.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

Buttler came into this match on a run of 18 consecutive innings without a fifty in T20 internationals, during which time he was averaging 15.16.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

It would have been "virtually impossible" for such exceptional temperatures to occur in June fifty years ago, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

I aimed for a broken branch that was dangling from a tree about fifty paces away.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

A surfer in his fifties was rushed to hospital on Monday after being bitten by a shark in Western Australia, the state government and local ambulance service said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026

Khaled Al-Badri, a Kuwaiti man in his fifties, told AFP he started turning off the air conditioning before leaving his house and switching off the outdoor lights.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

"We stayed to guard our soil," her daughter Najat al-Nour, a Quran professor in her fifties who lifted her chin high to admonish those who left.

From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026

"He'll be out in his fifties," says Izzy's younger sister, Georgina.

From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026

In the fifties it filled the heads of the Beats like the foam in their cappuccinos.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides