twentieth

American  

[twen-tee-ith, twuhn-] / ˈtwɛn ti ɪθ, ˈtwʌn- /

adjective

1. next after the nineteenth; being the ordinal number for 20.

2. being one of 20 equal parts.

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noun

• twentieths
  plural

1. a twentieth part, especially of one (1/20).

2. the twentieth member of a series.

twentieth British  

/ ˈtwɛntɪɪθ /

adjective

1. (usually prenominal)

   1. coming after the nineteenth in numbering or counting order, position, time, etc; being the ordinal number of twenty: often written 20th

   2. ( as noun )

      he left on the twentieth

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noun

1. 1. one of 20 approximately equal parts of something

   2. ( as modifier )

      a twentieth part

2. the fraction that is equal to one divided by 20 ( 1/ 20 )

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• twentieths
  plural

Etymology

Origin of twentieth

before 900; Middle English twentithe, Old English twentigotha. See twenty, -eth ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

twentieth twentieths

The concept of loading up on protein isn’t new per se — it first took off in the late twentieth century when diet and fitness cultures had both gone mainstream.

From Salon ● May 7, 2026

One Pfizer medical director referred to the drug as the “‘snake oil’ of the twentieth century” in an email later made public.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025

For one thing, recessions are no longer anywhere near as frequent as they used to be in the first half, indeed for most of the twentieth century.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2025

Lead pollution declined only after the late twentieth century.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025

As Chicago moved into the twentieth century, the golden days for Joyce and the other butcher aristocrats were over.

From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield

All the enemies of religious freedom, and all the friends of civil freedom, found themselves on the same side; and these two classes made up nineteen twentieths of the nation.

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay

Nineteen twentieths of these young fish are males, and some of them have the hooked jaws and red color of the old males.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 275, April 9, 1881 by Various

The nineteen twentieths of the non-slaveholding population of the South are forgotten, while the one twentieth is spoken of as "the South."

From The Life of Lyman Trumbull by Horace White

A panic terror seized upon the weak, the credulous, and the guilty, who in those days formed more than nineteen twentieths of the population.

From Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions — Volume 2 by Charles Mackay

If the numerator is a multiple of 5, the fraction represents twentieths.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 5 "Arculf" to "Armour, Philip" by Various