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• ten
  ten

  noun

  a cardinal number, nine plus one.
• ten.
  ten.

  abbreviation

  tenor.
• ten-
  ten-

  combining form

  a variant of teno-

ten

¹ American  

[ten] / tɛn /

noun

• tens
  plural

1. a cardinal number, nine plus one.

2. a symbol for this number, as 10 or X.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. a playing card with ten pips.

5. Informal. a ten-dollar bill.

   She had two tens and a five in her purse.

6. Also called ten's place.  Mathematics.

   1. (in a mixed number) the position of the second digit to the left of the decimal point.

   2. (in a whole number) the position of the second digit from the right.

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adjective

1. amounting to ten in number.

idioms

1. take ten, to rest from what one is doing, especially for ten minutes.

ten. ² American  

abbreviation

1. tenor.

2. Music. tenuto.

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ten ¹ British  

/ tɛn /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one. It is the base of the decimal number system and the base of the common logarithm See also number

2. a numeral, 10, X, etc, representing this number

3. something representing, represented by, or consisting of ten units, such as a playing card with ten symbols on it

4. Also called: ten o'clock.  ten hours after noon or midnight

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to ten

      ten tigers

   2. ( as pronoun )

      to sell only ten

ten- ² British  

combining form

1. a variant of teno-

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ten More Idioms  

1. see count to ten; not touch with a ten-foot pole.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tens
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ten

before 900; Middle English ten ( e ), tenn ( e ), Old English tēn ( e ), tīen ( e ); cognate with Dutch tien, German zehn, Old Norse tīu, Gothic taihun, Latin decem, Greek déka, Sanskrit daśa

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ten ten. ten- tens

That prediction agrees with other geological evidence showing that roughly five to ten kilometers of rock disappeared from parts of the region long before the modern Grand Canyon formed.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026

Anita Asante: The mood at the club just feels different, compared to how dysfunctional they were under Ruben Amorim or Erik ten Hag.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

There are "ten times fewer" customers now, he said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

One in ten people have used AI for mental health support.

From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026

About ten paces downstream, the trees opened into a clearing.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

"Ten out of ten. A masterpiece," said Harry, a Chinese fan living in London.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

"The length of the train is always different. Sometimes it's two, sometimes it's ten. It depends on the initial conditions."

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2024

“The U.S. military is more sophisticated by a magnitude of ten. Having said that, no one should think that war in Iran is going to be quick and easy,” McRaven said.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 1, 2019

After a short run by Lynch, Wilson gets sacked by Short and Seattle takes a loss of ten. 3rd and 19: Wilson finds Jackson but he’s short of the first down.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 17, 2016

“Every business in Garden Heights gotta close by nine. And nobody can be in the streets after ten. Lights out, like in prison.”

From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas

However, electrophysiology experiments showed that these inhibitory synapses are very effective: They are about ten- to 20-fold stronger than activating synapses, so despite being outnumbered, they can cause similar voltage changes.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2023

Disco music normalized the idea of a ten- or twelve-minute jam spread over a twelve-inch vinyl single.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 31, 2018

Its mapping system divides the country into four zones: areas of ten-, 100-, and 200-year floods, and all those beyond.

From Economist ● Sep. 7, 2017

Gaia is expected to measure the position and distances to almost one billion stars with an accuracy of a few ten- millionths of an arcsecond.

From Textbooks ● Oct. 13, 2016

Or if we have essays, then I will be done like ten p.m., or ten- thirty p.m.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

The former White House teleprompter operator allegedly made tens of thousands placing bets on what words Donald Trump might use in his speeches.

From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026

Over tens of millions of years, the giant cliff system would have gradually migrated inland as erosion wore it down.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026

More families reason that if they are going to spend tens of thousands of dollars, the diploma better pay off with a good job—otherwise why bother?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

Matt is a masked rider with tens of thousands of followers on YouTube.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Howie Hubler lost more money than any single trader in the history of Wall Street—and yet he was permitted to keep the tens of millions of dollars he had made.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis