forty

[fawr-tee]

noun

plural

forties 

1. a cardinal number, ten times four.

2. a symbol for this number, as 40 or XL or XXXX.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. forties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 40 through 49, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature.

   His office is in the West Forties. Her parents are in their forties. The temperature will be in the forties.

adjective

1. amounting to 40 in number.

forty

/ ˈfɔːtɪ /

noun

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

2. a numeral, 40, XL, etc, representing this number

3. something representing, represented by, or consisting of 40 units

determiner

1. 1. amounting to forty

      forty thieves

   2. ( as pronoun )

      there were forty in the herd

Word History and Origins

Origin of forty¹

before 950; Middle English fourti, Old English fēowertig (cognate with Old Frisian fiuwertich, Old High German fiorzug, German vierzig ). See four, -ty ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of forty¹

Old English fēowertig

Example Sentences

"I won't be able to pay my rent, I will be in my forties and living back at home," he says.

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For one glorious afternoon, oil traders were essentially reverse-panhandling: “Please, sir, take this barrel of West Texas Intermediate. Here’s forty bucks. I insist.”

Read more on MarketWatch

Next comes another man in his forties covered in shrapnel wounds.

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A Riverside man in his forties fatally overdosed on the substance in March but the cause was not officially determined until this month, the Riverside University Health System said in a news release.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Fighters like Bernard Hopkins and Foreman have shown it's possible to compete at an elite level into their late forties, albeit they are one of a few anomalies.

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