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decade

noun

Simple meaning

A period of ten years, particularly such a period beginning with a year ending in 0 and ending with a year ending in 9.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dehkayd

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

dɛˈkeɪd

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A period of ten years, particularly such a period beginning with a year ending in 0 and ending with a year ending in 9.

  2. A group, set, or series of ten, particularly

  3. Roman Catholicism

    A series of prayers counted on a rosary, typically consisting of an Our Father, followed by ten Hail Marys, and concluding with a Glory Be and sometimes the Fatima Prayer.

  4. Any of the sets of ten sequential braille characters with predictable patterns.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A period of ten years, particularly such a period beginning with a year ending in 0 and ending with a year ending in 9.

Used this way, decade is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use decade

  • “Many changes have happened in the last decade.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Set

last decadepast decadefirst decadesecond decade

Series

following decade

Work

third decade

Other combinations

coming decadepreceding decade

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.