seventy

noun

sev·​en·​ty ˈse-vən-tē 

ˈse-bᵊm-,

-dē

plural seventies

1

: a number equal to seven times 10 see Table of Numbers

2

seventies plural : the numbers 70 to 79

specifically : the years 70 to 79 in a lifetime or century

3

capitalized : a Mormon elder ordained for missionary work under the apostles

seventieth

ˈse-vən-tē-əth 

ˈse-bᵊm-

-dē-

adjective or noun

seventy adjective

seventy pronoun, plural in construction

Examples of seventy in a Sentence

She is in her seventies.

Recent Examples on the Web

The town had clean water and reliable electricity during its heyday in the nineteen seventies. —Saleem H. Ali, Forbes, 13 Mar. 2025

Evoking crime novelists like Dennis Lehane and gritty seventies films like Dog Day Afternoon, the line between good and evil blurs as criminals, cops, and hustlers collide in the unforgiving underbelly of San Francisco. —Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 13 Mar. 2025

During the nineteen-sixties and seventies, Danish doctors inserted intrauterine devices in thousands of Inuit girls and women, often without their consent, allegedly to control Greenland’s birth rate—an effort that Prime Minister Egede has described as an act of genocide. —Louise Bokkenheuser, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2025

Kibbe himself, now in his seventies, remains both the system’s prophet and its greatest mystery. —Rachel Hills, Vogue, 4 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

seventy, adjective, from Middle English, from Old English seofontig, short for hundseofontig, from hundseofontig, noun, group of seventy, from hund hundred + seofon seven + -tig group of ten; akin to Old English tīen ten

First Known Use

12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing seventy

• seventy-eight

Kids Definition

seventy

noun

sev·​en·​ty ˈsev-ən-tē 

plural seventies

: a number equal to seven times 10 see number

seventieth

-tē-əth 

adjective or noun

seventy adjective or pronoun