decade

plural decades · alternative archaic decad

1. A group, set, or series of ten , particularlyFirst known use 16th c.

   a decade of soldiers

2. A group, set, or series of ten
   1. A period of ten years , particularly such a period beginning with a year ending in 0 and ending with a year ending in 9.First known use 16th c.

      The 1960s was a turbulent decade.

      5 more examples

      I haven’t seen my cousin in over a decade!

      The repeated exposure, over decades, to most taxa here treated has resulted in repeated modifications of both diagnoses and discussions, as initial ideas of the various taxa underwent—often repeated—conceptual modification.

      1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii

      Thru May: 1920s — The Decade That Roared. New exhibition portraying historical events and everyday life during the Roaring Twenties.

      1979 December, “Museums”, in Texas Monthly, volume 7, number 12, page 22

      Athletes' use of herbal supplements has skyrocketed in the past two decades.

      2013 March, David S. Senchina, “Athletics and Herbal Supplements”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 16 May 2013, page 134

      Some of these employees have been with the company for decades, which made the company's claims that it offers good training, positive management and excellent job security and benefit packages all the more compelling.

      2020 January 2, Paul Stephen, “A great place to work”, in Rail, page 29

      Synonyms: decennium, decennary, decenniad, decennial

   2. historyA period of ten days, particularly those in the ancient Egyptian, Coptic, and French Revolutionary calendars.First known use 16th c.

      The year was divided up into twelve months renamed after the seasons [...]; each month comprised three ‘decades’ of ten days – with the décadi replacing Sundays as a day of rest; and each day was reconsecrated to a natural product or farming tool or technique.

      2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 481

   3. archaicliteraryA work in ten parts or books, particularly such divisions of Livy's History of Rome.First known use 16th c.
   4. CatholicismA series of prayers counted on a rosary, typically consisting of an Our Father, followed by ten Hail Marys, and concluding with a Glory Be and sometimes the Fatima Prayer.First known use 16th c.
   5. Any of the sets of ten sequential braille characters with predictable patterns.First known use 16th c.
   6. businessA set of ten electronic devices used to represent digits.First known use 16th c.
3. businessA set of resistors, capacitors, etc. connected so as to provide even increments between one and ten times a base electrical resistance.
4. engineeringThe interval between any two quantities having a ratio of 10 to 1.

   There are decades between 1.8 and 18, between 25 and 250 and between 0.03 and 0.003.