ninety

[nahyn-tee]

noun

plural

nineties 

1. a cardinal number, ten times nine.

2. a symbol for this number, as 90 or XC.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. nineties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 90 through 99, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature.

   His grandmother is in her nineties.

adjective

1. amounting to 90 in number.

ninety

/ ˈnaɪntɪ /

noun

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

2. a numeral, 90, XC, etc, representing this number

3. something represented by, representing, or consisting of 90 units

determiner

1. 1. amounting to ninety

      ninety times out of a hundred

   2. ( as pronoun )

      at least ninety are thought to be missing

Word History and Origins

Origin of ninety¹

before 1000; Middle English nineti, Old English nigontig. See nine, -ty ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of ninety¹

Old English nigontig

Example Sentences

Autumn’s fashion sense tends to manifest in time-period themes, like seventies disco or nineties hip-hop.

Read more on Literature

“Eighty.eight . . . eighty-nine . . . ninety. Well done! Now, come sit down and let us begin. Hixby’s Lavishly Illustrated Guide to London: Compleat with Historical Reference, Architectural Significance, and Literary Allusions,” she said, reading off the cover.

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About ninety coal-burning plants accounted for 32.3 percent of the country’s power, and the country had committed to adding thirty more.

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“The late nineties almost forced me to identify myself as a value investor, because I thought what everybody else was doing was insane,” he said.

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Cuba was an island just ninety miles from the coast of Florida.

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When To Use

Spelling tips for 90

The word ninety (90) is hard to spell because it can be hard to remember whether to include the e from nine when combining it with the suffix -ty. How to spell ninety: To spell ninety, you simply combine the base number (nine) with the suffix -ty, which means "multiple of 10." 9 x 10 = 90 or, in writing, nine + -ty = ninety.