English Explanatory Dictionary

century

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A period of one hundred consecutive years; often specifically a numbered period with conventional start and end dates, e.g., the twentieth century, which stretches from (strictly) 1901 through 2000, or (informally) 1900 through 1999. The first century AD was from 1 to 100.
  2. A unit in ancient Roman army, originally of one hundred army soldiers as part of a cohort, later of more varied sizes (but typically containing sixty to seventy or eighty) soldiers or other men (guards, police, firemen), commanded by a centurion.
  3. A political division of ancient Rome, meeting in the Centuriate Assembly.
  4. A hundred things of the same kind; a hundred.
  5. A hundred runs scored either by a single player in one innings, or by two players in a partnership.
  6. A score of one hundred points.
  7. A race a hundred units (as meters, kilometres, miles) in length.
  8. A banknote in the denomination of one hundred dollars.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈsɛnt͡ʃʊɹi/ /ˈsɛnt͡ʃɹi/ /ˈsɛn(t)ʃ(ə)ɹi/ En-us-century.ogg /ˈsen(t)ʃ(ə)ɹi/ En-au-century.ogg

Word forms

century centuries Centurys

Etymology

From Middle English centurie (“a count of one hundred (of anything); a division of the Roman army; century; a division of land”), from Old French centurie, from Latin centuria, from centum (“one hundred”). The most common modern use is a shortening of century of years.

Synonyms

age centennium yearhundred centenary centuria

Related words

centurion centennial semicentennial multicentennial bicentennial sesquicentennial tricentennial quadricentennial quincentennial sexcentennial septicentennial octocentennial novocentennial secular plurisecular multisecular centenary bicentenary tricentenary quadricentenary quincentenary sexcentenary septicentenary octocentenary novocentenary centenarian multicentenarian

Derived words

American Century centurial centuried centuries-long century break century egg centuryful centurylong century of humiliation century plant century year half a century half-century light century long eighteenth century long nineteenth century microcentury mid-century midcentury mid-century modern multicentury nanocentury of the century quarter-century semicentury sesquicentury short 20th century short twentieth century triple century turn of the century uncentury yestercentury

Translations

Finnish: satanen German: Hunni
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