ten
noun
a cardinal number, nine plus one.
ten
1 American
[ten]
/ tɛn /
noun
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tens
plural
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a cardinal number, nine plus one.
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a symbol for this number, as 10 or X.
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a set of this many persons or things.
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a playing card with ten pips.
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Informal. a ten-dollar bill.
She had two tens and a five in her purse.
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Also called ten's place. Mathematics.
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(in a mixed number) the position of the second digit to the left of the decimal point.
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(in a whole number) the position of the second digit from the right.
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adjective
idioms
ten.
2
American
abbreviation
-
tenor.
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Music. tenuto.
ten
1
British
/ tɛn /
noun
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the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one. It is the base of the decimal number system and the base of the common logarithm See also number
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a numeral, 10, X, etc, representing this number
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something representing, represented by, or consisting of ten units, such as a playing card with ten symbols on it
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Also called: ten o'clock. ten hours after noon or midnight
determiner
ten-
2
British
combining form
ten
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ten
before 900; Middle English ten ( e ), tenn ( e ), Old English tēn ( e ), tīen ( e ); cognate with Dutch tien, German zehn, Old Norse tīu, Gothic taihun, Latin decem, Greek déka, Sanskrit daśa
Vocabulary lists containing ten
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The strategist estimate that diesel would be stored up after nine to ten weeks, and possibly sooner.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
Nikole Hannah-Jones’s essay revisits her decision to send her daughter to mostly low-income and Black public schools, ten years later.
From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2026
Rates are likely higher than measured, because health systems across a continent were knocked out by the eruption and struggling to recover ten years later.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
In a recent report in which Andus Labs spoke to about 600 organizations across a range of sectors, it found that of the most common ten reasons AI transformations fail, seven are leadership-related.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
“You’ve got less than ten days to get to the starting line!”
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
"Ten out of ten. A masterpiece," said Harry, a Chinese fan living in London.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
"The length of the train is always different. Sometimes it's two, sometimes it's ten. It depends on the initial conditions."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2024
“The U.S. military is more sophisticated by a magnitude of ten. Having said that, no one should think that war in Iran is going to be quick and easy,” McRaven said.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 1, 2019
After a short run by Lynch, Wilson gets sacked by Short and Seattle takes a loss of ten. 3rd and 19: Wilson finds Jackson but he’s short of the first down.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 17, 2016
“That’s a dollar a book, times ten. I’m going to have to go up to the house to get change. ”
From "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven
However, electrophysiology experiments showed that these inhibitory synapses are very effective: They are about ten- to 20-fold stronger than activating synapses, so despite being outnumbered, they can cause similar voltage changes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2023
Disco music normalized the idea of a ten- or twelve-minute jam spread over a twelve-inch vinyl single.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 31, 2018
Its mapping system divides the country into four zones: areas of ten-, 100-, and 200-year floods, and all those beyond.
From Economist ● Sep. 7, 2017
Gaia is expected to measure the position and distances to almost one billion stars with an accuracy of a few ten- millionths of an arcsecond.
From Textbooks ● Oct. 13, 2016
Since its last paving, the ten- or fifteen-mile-long road in question seemed to have been at the epicenter of an earthquake.
From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green
The demonstrators set up around 100 tents in the capital's busy Puerta del Sol square after tens of thousands took to the streets on Saturday to demand action to lower housing costs and protect tenants.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
On top of that, the council is pouring tens of millions into trying to make the city centre a destination again.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
Boor says airborne terpene concentrations inside a room during cleaning can rise to tens or even hundreds of times those found in a forest.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
From there, according to the Mother Jones investigation, customers can be offered programs costing tens of thousands of dollars.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
“Oh, and the fact that I have to deliver it at the base of the Eiffel Tower in front of tens of thousands of people.”
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
