twenty

[ twen-tee, twuhn- ]

/ ˈtwɛn ti, ˈtwʌn- /

noun, plural twen·ties.

a cardinal number, 10 times 2.

a symbol for this number, as 20 or XX.

a set of this many persons or things.

Informal. a twenty-dollar bill: Can you give me two tens for a twenty?

twenties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 20 through 29, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or referring to degrees of temperature: He lives in the West Twenties. She's in her early twenties. The temperature must be in the high twenties today.

adjective

amounting to 20 in number.

Origin of twenty

before 900; Middle English; Old English twēntig; cognate with Old Frisian tw(e)intich, Old High German zweinzug (German zwanzig), Gothic twai tigjus two tens

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for twenties

“It really sucks to be in your younger twenties,” Colfer told Esquire.
Chris Colfer on Writing, Acting, and the Pain of Being A Pop Culture Trailblazer|Oliver Jones|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When I was in the closet in my twenties, I considered suicide almost every day.
Do LGBTs Owe Christians an Olive Branch? Try The Other Way Around|Jay Michaelson|December 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He once told me that he only vaguely understood “the mechanical aspects of sex” until he was in his early twenties.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We were all young—in our twenties—and felt honored to be having dinner with Cosby.
‘I Saved My Friend From Bill Cosby’|Lloyd Grove|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST

In his twenties, he began to study art and music in Simpson College, and gained notice for his drawings of botanical experiments.
Growth Stocks|The Daily Beast|October 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
"Two to one in Twenties against the Pile," shouted Mr. Lovely.
The Passionate Elopement|Compton Mackenzie
But the number of dead was said to be larger than was at first expected; it would probably reach into the twenties.
The Whirligig of Time|Wayland Wells Williams
At the end of the twenties its meaning begins to dawn on one.
We Philologists, Volume 8 (of 18)|Friedrich Nietzsche
In the late twenties and early thirties of the nineteenth century a quite exceptional group of men and women were writing books.
Among Famous Books|John Kelman
More than a hundred of the French officers who came to America to serve in the Revolution were in the early twenties.
Lafayette|Martha Foote Crow

British Dictionary definitions for twenties

twenty

/ (ˈtwɛntɪ) /

noun plural -ties

the cardinal number that is the product of ten and two; a scoreSee also number (def. 1)

a numeral, 20, XX, etc, representing this number

something representing, represented by, or consisting of 20 units

determiner

amounting to twentytwenty questions
(as pronoun)to order twenty

Related formsRelated adjectives: vicenary, vigesimalRelated prefix: icosa-

Word Origin for twenty

Old English twēntig; related to Old High German zweinzug, German zwanzig

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for twenties

twenties

1829 as the years of someone's life between 20 and 29; 1830 as a decade of years in a given century. See twenty.

twenty

Old English twentig "group of twenty," from twegen "two" (see two) + -tig "group of ten" (see -ty (1)). Cognate with Old Frisian twintich, Dutch twintig, Old High German zweinzug, German zwanzig. Gothic twai tigjus is even more transparent: literally "two tens."

The card game twenty-one (1790) is from French vingt-et-un (1781). Twenty-twenty hindsight is first recorded 1962, a figurative use of the Snellen fraction for normal visual acuity, expressed in feet. The guessing game of twenty questions is recorded from 1786. The Twentieth Century Limited was an express train from New York to Chicago 1902-1967.