fifth

American  

[fifth, fith] / fɪfθ, fɪθ /

adjective

1. next after the fourth; being the ordinal number for five.

2. being one of five equal parts.

3. Automotive. of, relating to, or operating at the gear transmission ratio at which the drive shaft speed is greater than that of fourth gear for a given engine crankshaft speed.

   fifth gear.

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adverb

1. in the fifth place; fifthly.

noun

• fifths
  plural

1. a fifth part, especially of one (1/5).

2. the fifth member of a series.

3. a fifth part of a gallon of liquor or spirits; 4/5 (0.8) of a quart (about 750 milliliters).

4. Automotive. fifth gear.

5. Music.

   1. a tone on the fifth degree from another tone (counted as the first).

   2. the interval between such tones.

   3. the harmonic combination of such tones.

idioms

1. plead the Fifth, to decline on the basis of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to answer a question when testifying. Also take the Fifth

fifth British  

/ fɪfθ /

adjective

1. 1. coming after the fourth in order, position, time, etc. Often written: 5th

   2. ( as noun )

      he came on the fifth

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noun

1. 1. one of five equal or nearly equal parts of an object, quantity, measurement, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      a fifth part

2. the fraction equal to one divided by five ( 1/ 5 )

3. music

   1. the interval between one note and another five notes away from it counting inclusively along the diatonic scale

   2. one of two notes constituting such an interval in relation to the other See also perfect diminished interval

4. an additional high gear fitted to some motor vehicles

adverb

1. Also: fifthly.  after the fourth person, position, event, etc

1. Also: fifthly.  as the fifth point: linking what follows with the previous statements, as in a speech or argument

fifth More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing fifth

• take the fifth

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fifths
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fifth

First recorded before 1000; earlier fift, Middle English fifte, Old English fīfta; -th by analogy with fourth, etc.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fifth fifths

The trip was a rare visit by a U.S. spy-agency chief with the Russia-Ukraine war now in its fifth year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Drafted in the fifth round by the Philadelphia Eagles, Hardy sustained a debilitating knee injury soon after joining the team.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

The impact is magnified, he argues, because Inverclyde has a population of just 78,000, having fallen by a fifth in the past 50 years.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

In my fifth decade, I’d found a web-learning technique that was workable and empowering.

From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026

To the casual observer, it probably looked about the same as the party he’d had on the last day of fifth grade: same pool, same sunshine, same kids.

From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

The study found such collisions killed between 15% and 29% of a group each year, and was the main cause of recorded hedgehog deaths, amounting to about two fifths of the total.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

At meets, Mara racked up prize ribbons: lots of third-places, fourths, fifths, and sixths, the occasional second, the very rare first.

From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2024

Caucus members account for three fifths of the lower house and half of the senate seats.

From Reuters ● Sep. 27, 2023

The song has easy rhythms, said Glass, but it’s more challenging to sing because of the wider vocal range and the way the melody line leaps by fifths and octaves.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2023

They had caught Seabiscuit running the fifth-fastest mile ever run, just three fifths of a second off the world record.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand