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

Laws passed in the nineteen-sixties and seventies dictated that the director was to be appointed by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and limited to a ten-year term. —Beverly Gage, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2024

But Costello, who’s now in his seventies, also suggested that this tour might be the beginning of a kind of end. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 10 Dec. 2024

Several images show Bahraini men dressed as cowboys—a subculture that formed in part when graduates in the late sixties and seventies who attended colleges in Texas, where their exposure to Clint Eastwood and rodeo culture overlapped with an existing love of horses, returned home. —M. Z. Adnan, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2024

Some comfort was in Dallas’ narrow win earlier in the season over their nemesis Pittsburgh Steelers (Pittsburgh had beaten Dallas in two close Super Bowls in the seventies, a wound that never healed for Dallas fans). —Jim Clash, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024

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