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

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

Etymology

Origin of tenth

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

Example Sentences

The job growth since February pushed the state’s unemployment rate down a tenth of a point, from 5.4% in January and February.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026

DeepSeek's Friday announcement also came as Meta said it planned to cut a tenth of its staff as it looks for productivity gains from the rest of the workforce while investing heavily in artificial intelligence.

From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026

Imagine if your credit card company declined every tenth transaction, reviewed and approved them only if you called, and then determined that more than half of the charges were not fraudulent at all.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026

Even if direct cooling water use by data centers triples by 2030, it would amount to about a tenth of what the U.S. golf industry uses.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

Some say it is held then because the tenth anniversary had come and gone, and no one thought to have a party for it until after the fact.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern