forty

American  

[fawr-tee] / ˈfɔr ti /

noun

plural

forties

1. a cardinal number, ten times four.

2. a symbol for this number, as 40 or XL or XXXX.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. forties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 40 through 49, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature.

   His office is in the West Forties. Her parents are in their forties. The temperature will be in the forties.

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adjective

1. amounting to 40 in number.

forty British  

/ ˈfɔːtɪ /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of ten and four See also number

2. a numeral, 40, XL, etc, representing this number

3. something representing, represented by, or consisting of 40 units

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to forty

      forty thieves

   2. ( as pronoun )

      there were forty in the herd

Etymology

Origin of forty

before 950; Middle English fourti, Old English fēowertig (cognate with Old Frisian fiuwertich, Old High German fiorzug, German vierzig ). See four, -ty ¹

Example Sentences

I bite my lip at the insult, unsure whether—beyond me—her crack was supposed to be about culture, quantum, or the nearly forty tribal Nations within what’s currently called Oklahoma.

From Literature

Birol told Australian media that at least forty energy assets across the region had been "severely or very severely damaged" in the conflict.

From Barron's

Tante Jans, Mama’s older sister, had moved in with us when her husband died to spend, as she put it, “what few days remain to me,” though she was still only in her early forties.

From Literature

There was a whole crowd around him—Hans, the countess’s manservant, was there, and forty, maybe fifty of our fellow refugees, and the schoolchildren—and Karli was showing off even more than usual.

From Literature

It was like a miracle, though she must have been forty.

From Literature