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dozen

1 American  
[duhz-uhn] / ˈdʌz ən /

noun

plural

dozens,

plural

dozen

  1. a group of 12.

  2. Slang. the dozens, a ritualized game typically engaged in by two persons each of whom attempts to outdo the other in insults directed against members of the other's family (usually used in the phraseplay the dozens ).

adjective

  1. twelve.

dozen 2 American  
[doh-zuhn] / ˈdoʊ zən /

verb (used with object)

Scot.

  1. to stun.

dozen British  
/ ˈdʌzən /

determiner

    1. twelve or a group of twelve

      a dozen eggs

      two dozen oranges

    2. ( as pronoun; functioning as sing or plural )

      give me a dozen

      there are at least a dozen who haven't arrived yet
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. in large quantities

  2. See baker's dozen

  3. to talk without stopping

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
dozen Idioms  

  1. see baker's dozen; by the dozen; daily dozen; dime a dozen; six of one, half dozen of the other.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of dozen1

1250–1300; Middle English dozeine < Old French do ( u ) zaine, equivalent to do ( u ) ze (< Latin duodecim ) + -aine (< Latin -āna ) -an

Origin of dozen2

1325–75; Middle English (Scots); see doze 1

Explanation

A dozen is twelve. If you buy a dozen doughnuts for six people, everyone will get to eat two of them. When you buy a dozen of something, you'll end up with twelve items. Your cat might, amazingly, have a dozen kittens, leading you to make a dozen phone calls trying to find homes for them all. Sometimes people use the word dozens to generically mean "a whole lot," as when you gasp, "There are dozens of seagulls sitting on my car!" Dozen has a Latin root, duodecim, "twelve."

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Vocabulary lists containing dozen

List 1

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

His Batman fandom is also abundantly clear in the more than two dozen items of Batman-inspired art, furniture and trinkets that are also up for sale.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

Halfway through the show, she appeared as Mona Lisa, singing Frankie Valli's Can't Take My Eyes Off You to a dozen fans who'd been invited onto the stage.

From BBC • May 6, 2026

The team grew to a few dozen and then hundreds.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026

A dozen stocks, excluding ServiceNow, dropped an average of 5% after beating earnings by 23%, highlighting a market disconnect.

From Barron's • May 4, 2026

A dozen dryads stood at the edge of the clearing, watching, as Erato bent over the great pile of wood.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

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.