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eighty

American  
[ey-tee] / ˈeɪ ti /

noun

plural

eighties
  1. a cardinal number, ten times eight.

  2. a symbol for this number, as 80 or LXXX.

  3. a set of this many persons or things.

  4. 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

  1. amounting to 80 in number.

eighty British  
/ ˈeɪtɪ /

noun

  1. the cardinal number that is the product of ten and eight See also number

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

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

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

  5. something represented by, representing, or consisting of 80 units

"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

determiner

    1. amounting to eighty

      eighty pages of nonsense

    2. ( as pronoun )

      eighty are expected

"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

Usage

Spelling tips for 80 The word eighty (80) is hard to spell for two reasons. First, it is not spelled the way it sounds [ ey-tee ]. Second, it is tempting to use a double t because the base word (eight) ends in a t and the suffix -ty begins with one.  How to spell eighty: To spell eighty, you start by correctly spelling the first syllable [ ey ]. The easiest way to remember how to spell eigh- is with the classic mnemonic device: “I before E, except after C, except when it’s pronounced like a long A, as in neighbor and weigh.” The collection of letters eigh often makes a long A sound [ ey ].

Etymology

Origin of eighty

before 850; Middle English eighteti, Old English eahtatig. See eight, -ty 1

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.

“A dollar, maybe eighty cents. Just the Italian beef jus poured over bread.”

From Salon

“No. In fact, neither of you should be here for another eighty years or so.”

From Literature

As the battle turned into a deadlock, it became clear that although the French ships outnumbered the English, some two hundred vessels to eighty, the English had a huge advantage.

From Literature

The rest—eighty students and twelve teachers—waited out the danger on the flat school grounds.

From Literature

Nineteen eighties financial innovation had all sorts of consequences, but one of them was a boom in the number of deals between big financial firms that required them to take each other’s credit risks.

From Literature