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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

Disney’s ten or so AI jobs showed the century-old studio building out its AI research and production muscle, while protecting its vault of beloved characters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

The incidence of dengue has increased 30-fold over the last 50 years, according to the World Health Organisation, which categorises the disease among the top ten global health threats.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

The midpoint of that range is roughly ten times greater than conventional carbon footprint estimates.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

Clark delivered a scathing blow against Boeing, suggesting that the first ten 777X jets—which have already been built—should be scrapped and turned into cans for baked beans, in comments to the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

“Miss ten Boom! It’s a matter of life and death! If I don’t get it right away, she’ll be taken to Amsterdam and then it will be too late.”

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

"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

“Other top companies are doing more, and Paris is doing ten. With new productions, you get on the front page of the culture section. Revivals get much less attention.”

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 16, 2015

“Humble, put back six buttons. Ebony, put back ten. Johnny, what’s going on, buddy? You have like two hundred buttons too many!”

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini

Extreme weather — including storm surges, flooding, snow and drought — was chosen as the leading cause of future food supply shortages and distribution issues over both the ten- and 50-year time frames.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2023

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

Round the distance to the nearest ⓐ hundred-million ⓑ ten- million; and ⓒ million.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 22, 2020

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

Since its last paving, the ten- or fifteen-mile-long road in question seemed to have been at the epicenter of an earthquake.

From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green

Despite this, tens of thousands of people have experienced power and water outages across Kumamoto City and at least 45 medical facilities have been damaged.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

The story was first reported in the Financial Times and the Times, with the latter claiming the plans could potentially earn Fifa president Gianni Infantino tens of millions of pounds.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Target is already organically mentioned tens of thousands of times a day on social media, according to the retailer’s chief digital and revenue officer, Sarah Travis, who leads the Club Target program.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

The wildfires in central Spain have ravaged tens of thousands of hectares of land.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

He'd helped to broker the Paris Agreement on climate change, brought tens of thousands of troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan, and led the effort to effectively shut down Iran's nuclear program.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama