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.

---

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

---

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

German scientist Theodor Boveri first proposed this idea in the early twentieth century after studying cells under the microscope.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 10, 2026

“It’s no more dangerous than the twentieth century,” she argues.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026

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

Mosley’s introduction provides that frame, calling the combined tales “a twentieth century memoir” and linking them to the fight for liberation and equality.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2025

The confluence of race and sex was a powerful force in dismantling Reconstruction after the Civil War, sustaining Jim Crow laws for a century and fueling divisive racial politics throughout the twentieth century.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

This interest was, however, taxed by the government for the two twentieths.

From The Eve of the French Revolution by Edward J. (Edward Jackson) Lowell

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

Oates had obtained his liberty, his pardon, and a pension which made him a much richer man than nineteen twentieths of the members of that profession of which he was the disgrace.

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 4 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay

The liability to the twentieths was not joint but individual; so that when a deduction was made from the amount charged to one tax-payer, the sum demanded of the others was not increased.

From The Eve of the French Revolution by Edward J. (Edward Jackson) Lowell

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

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---