decade

noun

de·​cade ˈde-ˌkād 

de-ˈkād;

 especially sense 1b  ˈde-kəd

1

: a group or set of 10

his prisoners were divided into decades

—William Godwin

: such as

a

: a period of 10 years

has been teaching for over a decade

the decade of the twenties

b

Roman Catholicism : a division of the rosary that consists primarily of 10 Hail Marys

2

mathematics : a ratio of 10 to 1 : order of magnitude

decadal

ˈde-kə-dᵊl 

adjective

Examples of decade in a Sentence

The war lasted nearly a decade.

The bridge was built a decade ago.

The decade of the 1920s runs from January 1, 1920 to December 31, 1929.

the first decade of the 21st century

There have been a lot of changes during the past two decades.

Recent Examples on the Web

According to the city, the number of firefighters and police has remained virtually unchanged over the past decade. —Luis Melecio-Zambrano, The Mercury News, 8 Nov. 2024

For decades, the United States has required technology companies to seek parental consent to access the data of children under 13, leading to most social media platforms banning those under that age from accessing their services. —Reuters, NBC News, 7 Nov. 2024

Over four decades later, new soil samples taken from the same regions still indicated a better fungi and bacteria presence than the areas that did not host gophers. —Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 7 Nov. 2024

Every four years for at least the past seven decades, Nancy Ike dutifully cast her vote for U.S. president, said her daughter, Leslie Becker. —Amber Hunt, The Enquirer, 6 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Middle French décade, from Late Latin decad-, decas, from Greek dekad-, dekas, from deka — see deca-

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing decade

• decade-long

Kids Definition

decade

noun

de·​cade ˈdek-ˌād 

-əd;

de-ˈkād;

 sense 3 is usually  ˈdek-əd

1

: a group or set of 10

2

: a period of 10 years

3

: a part of the rosary made up mainly of 10 Hail Marys