seventeenth

American  

[sev-uhn-teenth] / ˈsɛv ənˈtinθ /

adjective

1. next after the sixteenth; being the ordinal number for 17.

2. being one of 17 equal parts.

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noun

1. a seventeenth part, especially of one (1/17).

2. the seventeenth member of a series.

seventeenth British  

/ ˈsɛvənˈtiːnθ /

adjective

1. (usually prenominal)

   1. coming after the sixteenth in numbering or counting order, position, time, etc; being the ordinal number of seventeen: often written 17th

   2. ( as noun )

      the ship docks on the seventeenth

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noun

1. 1. one of 17 approximately equal parts of something

   2. ( as modifier )

      a seventeenth part

2. the fraction equal to one divided by 17 ( 1/ 17 )

Etymology

Origin of seventeenth

before 900; seventeen + -th ²; replacing Middle English seventethe, Old English seofontēotha. ( see seven, tithe)

Example Sentences

It’s the negative image of an important intellectual movement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Enlightenment, whose principles formed, among other things, the basis for American democracy.

From Salon • Jun. 25, 2025

If you have friends who appreciate their Irish heritage, you might have a party to attend, but otherwise, March seventeenth is nothing more than a good day to believe in magical happenings and happy accidents.

From Salon • Mar. 12, 2024

Ever since Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered the world of bacteria through a microscope in the late seventeenth century, humans have tried to look deeper into the world of the infinitesimally small.

From Science Daily • Oct. 18, 2023

Most Native American slaves quickly died off or escaped and hence the Atlantic Slave Trade between Africa and the New World began in earnest by the early seventeenth century.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020

It is difficult for us to grasp the extent to which this continued to be the case long into the seventeenth century.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton