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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

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

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

The trend-following tendency of small-cap relative strength is consistent with my analysis of small- and large-cap returns over the past century.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

The U.S. hasn’t built a large refinery in nearly half a century.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

Salt production began in Ulcinj almost a century ago, when the natural lagoon was transformed into a network of shallow evaporating basins.

From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026

“De Colores” is a traditional Mexican folk song that made its way to the Americas from Spain during the 16th century, and here Price is accompanied by the Memphis Mariachi.

From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026

Photographing relatives after death was common in the nineteenth century.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

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

The Parthenon won’t be built for another 800 years; likewise, Athenian democracy is centuries away.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

Primarily affecting children, polio wrecked havoc in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, killing and maiming scores of children.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

This newly identified behavior helps explain why gold jewelry, coins, and other objects can retain their luster for centuries.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026

This is how Greek audiences in the fourth and fifth centuries BC enjoyed the aural delivery of poems shaped by a long tradition of oral storytelling.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

“But that’s what happened, and so we’ve lived all our lives in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and so this is where we belong now. It’s what we know. It’s where our families are.”

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix