decade

American  

[dek-eyd, duh-keyd] / ˈdɛk eɪd, dəˈkeɪd /

noun

1. a period of ten years.

   the three decades from 1776 to 1806.

2. a period of ten years beginning with a year whose last digit is zero.

   the decade of the 1980s.

3. a group, set, or series of ten.

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decade British  

/ dɪˈkeɪd, ˈdɛkeɪd /

noun

1. a period of ten consecutive years

2. a group or series of ten

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Other Word Forms

• decadal
  adjective
• half-decade
  noun

Etymology

Origin of decade

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin decad-, stem of decas, from Greek dekás “group of ten”; equivalent to deca- + -ade ²

Explanation

She was so nervous to see her high school sweetheart at their reunion: it had been a decade (ten years) since she'd seen him at graduation, and she still got butterflies thinking about him. A decade is a period of ten years. Decade contains dec, which is used in words that have to do with tens. The Marty Paich Dectet was a band with ten players. A decahedron is a shape with ten faces. And the decimal system is based on the number ten.

Example Sentences

Cheng Li-wun, the chair of the opposition Kuomintang, met with Xi in April, the first such visit in a decade.

From Barron's • May 19, 2026

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wrote: "Congratulations to Arsenal - the first London club to win the league in almost a decade and 22 years in the making."

From BBC • May 19, 2026

Over the last decade, large investors have renovated some 300,000 distressed homes to rent out.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026

Crabtree workied at SpaceX for over a decade and during that period, she saw the city “being built up around” the commerce that SpaceX brought.

From MarketWatch • May 19, 2026

Mal had been told, at an average rate of once a day for a decade, not to climb the wall.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell