tenth

American  

[tenth] / tɛnθ /

adjective

1. next after ninth; being the ordinal number for ten.

2. being one of ten equal parts.

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noun

• tenths
  plural

1. one of ten equal parts, especially of one (1/10).

2. the member of a series preceding the eleventh and following the ninth.

3. Music.

   1. a tone distant from another tone by an interval of an octave and a third.

   2. the interval between such tones.

   3. the harmonic combination of such tones.

4. Also called tenth's place.  (in decimal notation) the position of the first digit to the right of the decimal point.

adverb

1. in the tenth place; tenthly.

tenth British  

/ tɛnθ /

adjective

1. (usually prenominal)

   1. coming after the ninth in numbering or counting order, position, time, etc; being the ordinal number of ten: often written 10th

   2. ( as noun )

      see you on the tenth

      tenth in line

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noun

1. 1. one of 10 approximately equal parts of something

   2. ( as modifier )

      a tenth part

2. one of 10 equal divisions of a particular measurement, etc

   decibel

3. the fraction equal to one divided by ten ( 1/ 10 )

4. music

   1. an interval of one octave plus a third

   2. one of two notes constituting such an interval in relation to the other

adverb

1. Also: tenthly.  after the ninth person, position, event, etc

1. Also: tenthly.  as the 10th point: linking what follows with the previous statements, as in a speech or argument

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tenths
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tenth

before 1150; Middle English tenthe, Old English. See ten, -th ², tithe

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tenth tenths

The weather service is forecasting “minimal measurable” rain, or less than a tenth of an inch, she said, meaning there is chance of dry lightning strikes, which could ignite a fire.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

And it appeared to work, with the 30-year yield dropping nearly a tenth of a percentage point in the initial hours after it was made—a sizable change for such a short period.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

The idea sparked something in Cavanagh, who has just released his tenth novel about the conman turned lawyer Eddie Flynn.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

On Wednesday, regulators were obliged to enforce the circuit breaker, suspending all trading temporarily, for the second consecutive day and the tenth time this year.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

I try on the shades for like the tenth time this morning, but I still can’t get them to work again.

From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston

A few tenths of a percentage point won’t alter the big picture.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

For many of my clients, that peace is worth as much as a few tenths of a percent of return.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026

Johannes cut three tenths off his Division I winning time last week.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026

You might be a couple of tenths behind one session, just try a little bit more, 'OK, I've gone off, I've had a crash', and you've got to restart.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026

The gas chromatograph on the Pioneer Venus entry probes gave an abundance of water in the lower atmosphere of a few tenths of a percent.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan