Synonyms

five-and-ten

American

[fahyv-uhn-ten] / ˈfaɪv ənˈtɛn /

noun

Also called five-and-ten-cent store. Also called dime store, ten-cent store. Also called five-and-dime. a store offering a wide assortment of inexpensive items, formerly costing five or ten cents, for personal and household use.

adjective

of, relating to, or characteristic of a five-and-ten.

Etymology

Origin of five-and-ten

First recorded in 1875–80

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.

They passed a Club Monaco, which Smith said used to be a five-and-ten, and Herrick Hardware a family-run store with beach chairs hanging on its exterior like climbing roses.

From The New Yorker

My other brother’s five-and-ten store at Georgia Avenue and Lamont streets NW was looted and all his merchandise stolen.

From Washington Post

Broadway, the neighborhood’s high street, is served by five-and-ten dollar businesses: Walgreen’s, Wendy’s, soft ice cream stands, and grimy diners serving city chicken.

From Salon

"His whole life was the paper," Mr. Vonnegut observes about a journalist, "and his talking of quitting it was like a trout's talking of quitting a mountain stream to get a job in a five-and-ten."

From Seattle Times

Now, instead of a five-and-ten, picture an abortion clinic.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023