Word.ws English Dictionary

fifties

/ˈfɪftiz/

fifties is the plural of fifty.

Noun

fifties pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) The sixth decade of a century: the 1850s, 1950s, 2050s, etc.
    • I will probably be dead by the fifties.
    • The fifties were the heyday of the excursion train, with the 1851 Exhibition naturally giving a great boost to such traffic.1954 June, R. Marchant, “Early Excursion Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 427
  2. (plural, plural-only) The decade of one's life from age 50 through age 59.
    • You don't really start living until you're in your fifties!
    • […] doing variations on Old Devil Moon on trumpet, backed by an aging hippy on drums, a stringbeany, college student type on upright bass, and a balding man in his fifties playing an effectively understated piano.2002, Laurance L. Priddy, Critical Evidence, page 96
  3. (plural, plural-only, rates) The range between 50 and 59 Fahrenheit.
    • It can't snow tonight; it's forecast to be in the fifties!

Meaning of fifty

Noun

fifty (plural fifties)

  1. (countable) A banknote or coin with a denomination of 50.
    • Do you want small bills or are fifties OK?
  2. A batsman's score of at least 50 runs and less than 100 runs.

See all 3 meanings of fifty

Adjective

fifties (not comparable)

  1. From or evoking the 51st through 60th years of a century (chiefly the 1950s).
    • Don't bring ambrosia, this isn't a fifties potluck.
    • As they inspect the message, "Happy B-day Netta," the bakery clerk places four plastic figures around the edges of the cake. The figures have fifties hairstyles and clothing, and they are in rock 'n roll dancing poses.2008, Gabriella Gahlia Modan, Turf Wars: Discourse, Diversity, and the Politics of Place, Wiley, →ISBN, page 4

Synonyms of fifties

Forms of fifties

alternative form'fifties

Words formed from fifties

Phrases with fifties

Questions about fifties

What does fifties mean?
Fifties means the sixth decade of a century: the 1850s, 1950s, 2050s, etc.
What is fifties the plural of?
Fifties is the plural of fifty.
What part of speech is fifties?
Fifties can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce fifties?
Fifties is pronounced /ˈfɪftiz/.

Words near fifties in the dictionary

  1. fifthing
  2. fifthly
  3. fifthness
  4. fifths
  5. fiftie
  6. fifties
  7. fiftieth
  8. fiftiethly
  9. fiftieths
  10. fifty
  11. fifty cent army

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fifties (page history and authors); fifty (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fifties.wav.

Cite this entry: “fifties.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fifties. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.