fifty

American  

[fif-tee] / ˈfɪf ti /

noun

• fifties
  plural

1. a cardinal number, ten times five.

2. a symbol for this number, as 50 or L.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. fifties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 50 through 59, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature.

   She lives in the East Fifties. He's in his late fifties. It's going to be in the fifties again today.

5. Informal. a fifty-dollar bill.

   He had a fifty and two tens in his wallet.

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adjective

1. amounting to 50 in number.

fifty British  

/ ˈfɪftɪ /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of ten and five

2. a numeral, 50, L, etc, representing this number

3. something represented by, representing, or consisting of 50 units

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to fifty

      fifty people

   2. ( as pronoun )

      fifty should be sufficient

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fifties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fifty

before 900; Middle English; Old English fīftig. See five, -ty ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fifty fifties

Two hundred fifty years on, the principles of our country’s founding are still woven into the fabric of U.S. society.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

To investigate this connection, the team studied a large multicenter group consisting of fifty patients and one hundred brain hemispheres.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

Plenty in the Oval crowd were standing when Sciver-Brunt reached her fifty.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

It would have been "virtually impossible" for such exceptional temperatures to occur in June fifty years ago, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

Madi, Skye, and I usually send fifty texts a day, even when nothing’s happening.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

Khaled Al-Badri, a Kuwaiti man in his fifties, told AFP he started turning off the air conditioning before leaving his house and switching off the outdoor lights.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

A mum-of-three in her fifties, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, said she had studied for her degree at a franchised college in London.

From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026

"He'll be out in his fifties," says Izzy's younger sister, Georgina.

From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026

Englishmen have reached 25 runs 14 times so far – the most of any team in the competition – but only four of those knocks have been converted into fifties.

From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026

She knew, too, that Dad, who was in his fifties, wanted to get as many of his dozen as possible through school and college before he died.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey