decimal
Americanadjective
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pertaining to tenths or to the number 10.
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proceeding by tens.
a decimal system.
noun
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decimals
plural
noun
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Also called: decimal fraction. a fraction that has a denominator of a power of ten, the power depending on or deciding the decimal place. It is indicated by a decimal point to the left of the numerator, the denominator being omitted. Zeros are inserted between the point and the numerator, if necessary, to obtain the correct decimal place
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any number used in the decimal system
adjective
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relating to or using powers of ten
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of the base ten
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(prenominal) expressed as a decimal
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A representation of a real number using the base ten and decimal notation, such as 201.4, 3.89, or 0.0006.
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A decimal fraction.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of decimal
First recorded in 1600–10; from Medieval Latin decimālis “of tenths,” equivalent to Latin decim(a) “tenth” (derivative of decem “ten” ) + -ālis adjective suffix; see ten, -al 1
Explanation
A decimal is a fraction written in a special form. Instead of writing 1/2, for example, you can express the fraction as the decimal 0.5, where the zero is in the ones place and the five is in the tenths place. Decimal comes from the Latin word decimus, meaning tenth, from the root word decem, or 10. The decimal system, therefore, has 10 as its base and is sometimes called a base-10 system. Decimal can also specifically refer to a number in the decimal system. As an adjective, decimal means something related to this numbering system. The decimal point, for example, refers to the period that separates the ones place from the tenths place in decimal numbers.
Vocabulary lists containing decimal
Pi Day Vocabulary
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Perfect Ten: Dec, Cent, Mille
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Arithmetic
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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.
See Examples For:
What mattered was mostly the initial integer, or what was “to the left of the decimal point,” rather than anything more exact.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
“My usual rule of thumb is, move the decimal point one place to the left,” Matheson said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
In recent decades, advances in computing have pushed this familiar constant far beyond the classroom, with powerful supercomputers now calculating pi to trillions of decimal places.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 16, 2025
In July 2024, Nature issued a correction noting that rows of data were “wrongly printed as a decimal, rather than a percentage point.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025
“To earn my place on the Pacific team,” said Pranav, “I had to use the Dewey decimal code on this very book.”
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
Despite leaving school at a young age and initially finding terms like "decimals" and "algebra" intimidating, Mr Elsom is said to have quite a talent for working with figures.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2025
The leaders of those and other rate stats — expressed with decimals — are now sprinkled with Negro League standouts.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2024
Eventually she leads us toward more abstract concepts such as the polar coordinate system, a graphical approach to defining a point using distance and angle, as well as irrational numbers and decimals that repeat infinitely.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 20, 2023
Other intellectuals of the Gupta era proved themselves in the field of mathematics by using decimals and a mark to denote the concept of zero for precise measurements and recordkeeping.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
Equal temperament and pure intervals are calculated as decimals and compared to each other.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
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.
