seventeen

American  

[sev-uhn-teen] / ˈsɛv ənˈtin /

noun

• seventeens
  plural

1. a cardinal number, 10 plus 7.

2. a symbol for this number, as 17 or XVII.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

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adjective

1. amounting to 17 in number.

2. (initial capital letter, italics) a novel (1916) by Booth Tarkington.

seventeen British  

/ ˈsɛvənˈtiːn /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the sum of ten and seven and is a prime number See also number

2. a numeral, 17, XVII, etc, representing this number

3. the amount or quantity that is seven more than ten

4. something represented by, representing, or consisting of 17 units

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to seventeen

      seventeen attempts

   2. ( as pronoun )

      seventeen were sold

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• seventeens
  plural

Etymology

Origin of seventeen

before 900; Middle English seventene, Old English seofontēne (cognate with Dutch zeventien, German siebzehn ). See seven, -teen

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

seventeen seventeens

“Every court to consider the question, now totaling seventeen district courts and a federal court of appeals, have unanimously rejected this clear federal overreach,” she said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

Released in April, the song is two minutes and seventeen seconds of aggressively chaotic beat drops, juddering synths and gang vocals.

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025

As of April 2024, seventeen states and the District of Columbia have adopted the compact, jurisdictions that comprise 209 electoral votes.

From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2024

Students in seventeen states, including California, remain more than a third of a grade level behind 2019 levels in math.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2024

Seventeen-year-old Joe Boone from Selma, arrested seventeen times during the voting rights campaign, said that his parents never thought this day would come.

From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman

Lina was a couple of years older than Elsa, Lourdes, Sinita, and me; but her last year at Inmaculada, we were all in the same dormitory hall of the fifteens through seventeens.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

We all looked up to her as if she were a lot older than even the other seventeens.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

Why do they go by fives, nines, and seventeens?

From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by Bunyan, John