a monetary unit of Italy until the euro was adopted, one 100th of a lira.
a cupronickel coin of Uruguay, one 100th of a peso.
a copper coin of Panama, one 100th of a balboa.
First recorded in 1850–55; from Italian, Spanish, from Latin centēsimus; see centesimal
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I wouldn't give a brass centesimo," cried Sancho, "to know what is past.
From Young Folks Treasury, Volume 3 (of 12) Classic Tales and Old-Fashioned Stories by Mabie, Hamilton Wright
Quia nec ipsum est a monachis alienum hortos colere, agros exercere, et pomorum fecunditate gratulari; legitur enim in Psalmo centesimo vigesimo septimo, "Labores manuum tuarum manducabis; beatus es et bene tibi erit."
From The Letters of Cassiodorus Being A Condensed Translation Of The Variae Epistolae Of Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator by Hodgkin, Thomas
He never spends a soldo, I am positive; and if he drops a centesimo under the benches, he is capable of hunting for it for a week.
From Cuore (Heart) An Italian Schoolboy's Journal by Hapgood, Isabel Florence
And what adds to the difficulty, is, that Pliny seems to ground his opinion on the testimony of Herodotus: In totum autem revocatur Nilus intra ripas in Librá, ut tradit Herodotus, centesimo die.
From The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Macedonians and Grecians (Vol. 1 of 6) by Rollin, Charles
He presents the card; they make an ugly face at him: he hasn’t a centesimo to bless himself with.
From Cuore (Heart) An Italian Schoolboy's Journal by Hapgood, Isabel Florence
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.
