Word.ws English Dictionary

nine-tenths

UK/ˌnʌɪnˈtɛnθs/US/ˌnaɪnˈtɛnθs/

nine-tenths noun: nine parts out of ten; 90%; 9/10.

Noun

nine-tenths pl (plural only)

  1. (literally, plural, plural-only) Nine parts out of ten; 90%; 9/10.
  2. (broadly, plural, plural-only) Almost all; the vast majority.

Forms of nine-tenths

alternative form9/10ths

Origin of nine-tenths

nine + tenths

Words formed from nine-tenths

Questions about nine-tenths

What does nine-tenths mean?
Nine-tenths means nine parts out of ten; 90%; 9/10.
What part of speech is nine-tenths?
Nine-tenths is a noun.
How do you pronounce nine-tenths?
Nine-tenths is pronounced /ˌnʌɪnˈtɛnθs/ (UK).

Words near nine-tenths in the dictionary

  1. nine-point circle
  2. nine-point circles
  3. nine-pounder
  4. nine-pounders
  5. nine-primaried oscine
  6. nine-tenths
  7. nine-thousander
  8. nine-thousanders
  9. nine-thousandth
  10. nine-timer
  11. nine-timers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nine-tenths (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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Cite this entry: “nine-tenths.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nine-tenths. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.