eighty

[ ey-tee ]

/ ˈeɪ ti /

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noun, plural eight·ies.

a cardinal number, ten times eight.

a symbol for this number, as 80 or LXXX.

a set of this many persons or things.

eighties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 80 through 89, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature.

adjective

amounting to 80 in number.

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Origin of eighty

before 850; Middle English eighteti,Old English eahtatig.See eight, -ty¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use eighty in a sentence

The archaeologist Sarah Nelson is in her eighties, and she would go dig in China this minute if she could get grant money.
The Real-Life Raiders of the Lost Ark|Alex Belth|November 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The images tend to be followed by an equally non-contextual eighties reference and nothing more is said.
Juvenile Misogynist Seth MacFarlane Is Not Funny|Amy Zimmerman|June 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Its eighties music is so cheesy and the struggle is so real.
The Best Celebrity Cameos in Super Bowl Ads|Marina Watts|February 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The novel might be a metafiction in the style of John Barth, who has also in his eighties been influenced by cognitive science.
The Brain Man: What is E. L. Doctorow Up to?|Tom LeClair|January 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Back in the eighties, no one knew about a hot glue gun except display people.
Tales of a Bergdorf Goodman Window Dresser|Erin Cunningham|December 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST
By the late Eighties he had disappeared into the north, and the careless city knew him no more.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
In the late eighties he returned to his native island, settled at Peel, and became a magnate there.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland|Joseph Tatlow
In the eighties any writer who dealt unabashed with death was regarded as an unpleasant person.
The Letters of Ambrose Bierce|Ambrose Bierce
It broke down the strength of Mr. Gladstone's Government in the eighties.
Home Rule|Harold Spender
The period of laissez faire in imperial matters, of Little Englandism, drew to a close in the early eighties.
The Canadian Dominion|Oscar D. Skelton

British Dictionary definitions for eighty

eighty

/ (ˈeɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ies

the cardinal number that is the product of ten and eightSee also number (def. 1)

a numeral, 80, LXXX, etc, representing this number

(plural) the numbers 80–89, esp a person's age or the year of a particular century

the amount or quantity that is eight times as big as ten

something represented by, representing, or consisting of 80 units

determiner

amounting to eightyeighty pages of nonsense
(as pronoun)eighty are expected

Word Origin for eighty

Old English eahtatig; related to Old Frisian achtig, Old High German ahtozug

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