twenty

American  

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

noun

plural

twenties

1. a cardinal number, 10 times 2.

2. a symbol for this number, as 20 or XX.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. Informal. a twenty-dollar bill.

   Can you give me two tens for a twenty?

5. 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.

6. Slang. Also 20 location; ten-twenty.

   What’s your twenty?

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adjective

1. amounting to 20 in number.

twenty British  

/ ˈtwɛntɪ /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of ten and two; a score See also number

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

3. something representing, represented by, or consisting of 20 units

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to twenty

      twenty questions

   2. ( as pronoun )

      to order twenty

Etymology

Origin of twenty

First recorded 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

Example Sentences

In Hubbard's factory yard, about twenty bunkers that look like steel shipping containers stood ready to be shipped to clients across the country.

From Barron's • Mar. 12, 2026

Nauseating as this looks twenty years after the fact, “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” shows such abuses were framed as part of the cost of fame-seeking.

From Salon • Feb. 20, 2026

Maybe you’ve attended three football games a week for twenty years without ever owning a television.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026

A book that will put you through the emotional wringer, Brar says it was inspired "by the love my father had in running his sub-Post Office for over twenty years".

From BBC • Dec. 24, 2025

Torak peered at the figures hunched about the long-fire: twenty or thirty men and women, their faces starkly lit by the flames.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver