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• century
  century

  noun

  a period of 100 years.
• -century
  -century

  a combining form of century, affixed to the number that specifies the 100-year span cited, and used only as an adjective.

century

¹ American  

[sen-chuh-ree] / ˈsɛn tʃə ri /

noun

• centuries
  plural

1. a period of 100 years.

2. one of the successive periods of 100 years reckoned forward or backward from a recognized chronological epoch, especially from the assumed date of the birth of Jesus.

3. any group or collection of 100.

   a century of limericks.

4. (in the ancient Roman army) a company, consisting of approximately 100 men.

5. one of the voting divisions of the ancient Roman people, each division having one vote.

6. (initial capital letter) a style of type.

7. Slang. a hundred-dollar bill; 100 dollars.

8. Sports. a race of 100 yards or meters, as in track or swimming, or of 100 miles, as in bicycle racing.

9. Cricket. a score of at least 100 runs made by one batsman in a single inning.

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-century ² American  

[sen-chuh-ree] / ˈsɛn tʃə ri /

1. a combining form of century, affixed to the number that specifies the 100-year span cited, and used only as an adjective.

   19th-century American literature;

   a collection of 6th-century metal sculptures that was stolen in the late 20th century.

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century British  

/ ˈsɛntʃərɪ /

noun

1. a period of 100 years

2. one of the successive periods of 100 years dated before or after an epoch or event, esp the birth of Christ

3. 1. a score or grouping of 100

      to score a century in cricket

   2. ( as modifier )

      the basketball team passed the century mark in their last game

4. (in ancient Rome) a unit of foot soldiers, originally 100 strong, later consisting of 60 to 80 men See also maniple

5. (in ancient Rome) a division of the people for purposes of voting

6. (often capital) a style of type

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century Idioms  

1. see turn of the century.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• half-century
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• centuries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of century

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin centuria “unit made up of 100 parts (especially a company of soldiers),” equivalent to cent(um) “hundred” + -uria, perhaps extracted from decuria “a division of 10 men”; see decury

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Explanation

100 years is called a century. The computer, the television, and video games were all invented in the twentieth century. People are now wondering what the twenty-first century holds for us. The noun century comes from the Latin word centuria, which was a group of 100, particularly a group of 100 Roman soldiers (one of 16 such groups in a Roman legion). The word today still can refer to 100 of something. In sports, a century is a score of 100 in a game of cricket. A race of 100 yards or 100 miles is also sometimes called a century. In slang, century can also mean a 100 dollar bill.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

century -century centuries

Their good friends Lily Knight and Steve Hofvendahl, who lived two doors away for a quarter of a century, are beginning a new chapter of their own.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026

Casey led it for much of the 20th century, resigning from the board of the company he created shortly before his death at age 95.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

But somewhere in the middle decades of the 20th century, as investors began to look away from downtown, the Clark hit the skids.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

Changes to the clocks have been taking place for more than a century.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Born enslaved at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Alfred Jackson died a free man as the twentieth century began.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis

As you write, “The post-Holocaust security of Israel thus stands as the constitutive exception on which 21st -century humanitarianism is based.”

From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2018

Until recently, many churches were that rare 21st -century phenomenon: the organically analog space.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2018

From posting on message boards to using Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, fertility doctors have appropriated 21st-century marketing methods to bring a 21 -century technology to the masses.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2012

These custodians of the land see the bill as a violation of the right to self-determination for which they fought for centuries.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

Though the tableaux depict hardships endured by a painter born in 1593, Artemisia, the impressions convey yearning, grief, suffering and resilience that transcend centuries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

In centuries past, the British built the Titanic in less time and for less money.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

The home of London's oldest restaurant, which has hosted famous faces from Charles Dickens to Madonna over the past two centuries, has been given to the National Trust.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

"Those stories don't tell the half of it. The scribes wrote them down centuries afterward. They didn't know the truth."

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

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