ten

¹ American  

[ten] / tɛn /

noun

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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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

With their nets at the ready, tens of thousands of fishermen were poised to take part in a traditional festival in northern Nigeria last weekend after a six-year break due to Covid and security concerns.

From BBC

Today, ten of the UK's 25 breeding seabird species are on the Red List, among them the puffin and the kittiwake.

From BBC

Facebook owner Meta Platforms is expanding its business with the chip designer in a deal likely to be worth tens of billions of dollars.

From Barron's

The government’s official figure is roughly 3,000, but other groups say it could be as much as ten 10 times more.

From Los Angeles Times

This week, Meta deepened its ties with Nvidia with new purchasing plans of tens of billions of dollars’ worth of chips and other hardware.

From The Wall Street Journal