decade

American  

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

noun

• decades
  plural

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

Derived Forms

• half-decade
  noun
• decadal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• decades
  plural

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

See Examples For:

decade decades

A decade ago, this league had established itself as the home of the world’s greatest tacticians.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

I’ve been wrestling with Jason Statham for a decade and I’m finally conceding defeat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

"It is what it is. Same old cliche a decade later. Keep running you little cowards," he added.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

More than a decade after scam rap emerged from the buzzier, grimier corners of Detroit hip-hop, a scammer anthem from a South Floridian is arguably the song of the summer.

From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026

He’d died the decade before the Mona Lisa was stolen.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day

“The Treasury has invested decades that it would not behave opportunistically like this,” Crandall said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

The removal of Jose Gabriel Espinoza comes as Bolivia suffers through its worst economic turbulence in four decades, which the center-right Paz, elected last year, is under pressure to fix.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

But Exxon and Conoco, still leery two decades after Venezuela nationalized their assets there, are taking their time.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

The blogging baseball fan Robert Kopecky points out that at that time the sport’s popularity had soared, with average attendance per game doubling to more than 31,000 from about 15,500 over the previous two decades.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

The basic framework for all these institutions and traditions was built in a sudden spasm of enforced inspiration and makeshift construction during the final decades of the eighteenth century.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis