Word.ws English Dictionary

thirties

thirties is the plural of thirty.

Noun

thirties pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) The fourth decade of a century: the 1830s, 1930s, 2030s, etc.
    • It says here on your resume that your last job was as a streetcorner apple vendor and that you haven't worked since the thirties.
    • The Road to Glory, while not the best, was likewise not the least of the thirties films which may justly be called "anti-war" in both intent and execution.1975, Michael T. Isenberg, “An Ambiguous Pacifism: A Retrospective on World War I Films, 1930–1938”, in Journal of Popular Film, volume 4, number 2, →DOI, page 109
  2. (plural, plural-only) The decade of one's life from age 30 through age 39.
    • He looked to be in his thirties.
  3. (plural, plural-only, rates) The range between 30 and 39.
    • It's going to be in the low thirties tonight.

Meaning of thirty

Noun

thirty (plural thirties)

  1. (slang) A rack of thirty beers.
  2. A commercial lasting 30 seconds.
    • […] instead of thirties [thirty-second commercials], they buy sixties, which cost twice as much. They spend more on filming it than they need to; they buy a lot of ads that are garbage and don't really say anything, just to fill up the space.2014, Jules Witcover, No Way to Pick a President

See all 3 meanings of thirty

Adjective

thirties (not comparable)

  1. From or evoking the 31st through 40th years of a century (chiefly the 1930s).
    • Yearslong droughts? How thirties!
    • 'Something light and airy for this last burst of summer, non?' said Madame, and held up a dress in creamy pink crêpe-de-Chine. 'Very thirties, n'est-ce pas? I adore this fabric—so fluid, so graceful.'1990, Catherine George, Come Back to Me, Harlequin Books, →ISBN, page 58

Synonyms of thirties

Forms of thirties

alternative form'thirties

Words formed from thirties

Phrases with thirties

Questions about thirties

What does thirties mean?
Thirties means the fourth decade of a century: the 1830s, 1930s, 2030s, etc.
What is thirties the plural of?
Thirties is the plural of thirty.
What part of speech is thirties?
Thirties can be a noun or an adjective.

Words near thirties in the dictionary

  1. thirteenth-grader
  2. thirteenth-graders
  3. thirteenthly
  4. thirteenths
  5. thirtie
  6. thirties
  7. thirtieth
  8. thirtiethly
  9. thirtieths
  10. thirty
  11. thirty eight

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thirties (page history and authors); thirty (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: “thirties.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thirties. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.