fourth

noun

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\ ˈfȯrth

plural fourths\ ˈfȯr(th)s

Definition of fourth

1 : one that is number four in a series — see Table of Numbers

2a : a musical interval (see interval sense 2a) embracing four tones of the diatonic scale

b : a tone at this interval specifically : subdominant sense 1

c : the harmonic combination of two tones a fourth apart

3 : the fourth forward gear or speed of a motor vehicle shifted into fourth

4 capitalized : independence day —used with the watched fireworks on the Fourth

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Examples of fourth in a Sentence

cut the cake into fourths She drank a fourth of the bottle.

Recent Examples on the Web Boley has been battling through a back injury and sat the entire fourth of last week’s loss against Arizona. — oregonlive, "Oregon women’s basketball still searching for identity entering rematches with Stanford, UCLA," 15 Feb. 2021 Stamkos made it 4-0 at 7:23 of the second period, firing a wrist shot from the right circle through the legs of Dante Fabbro and over the glove of Saros for his fourth of the season. — Erik Erlendsson, Star Tribune, "Stamkos, Gourde lead Lightning to 5-2 victory over Predators," 1 Feb. 2021 Three-fourths of the deaths were people 65 years of age or older. — Alison Steinbach, azcentral, "Arizona coronavirus update: State passes 1K known deaths; 24,332 cases as of Friday," 5 June 2020 The House plans to vote this week on several bills, many of them under special rules allowing only an hour of debate and requiring a three-fourths approval vote for passage. — Susan Ferrechio, Washington Examiner, "More than a quarter of Democrats plan remote voting this week," 27 May 2020 By early April, that number had grown to project as many as 5,516 deaths by May 16, a number that would have put Alabama fourth in the country for coronavirus deaths. — Leada Gore | Lgore@al.com, al, "Coronavirus deaths in Alabama now projected to be 429 by May 16," 12 Apr. 2020 Marin County graded out first, San Francisco third, San Mateo fourth, Santa Clara sixth, Santa Cruz ninth and Alameda 10th. — Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, "California’s healthiest counties, ranked," 1 Mar. 2020 Washington got the ball back and picked up one fourth-and-1 before facing another one at the Bears’ 16-yard line with 7:08 remaining. — Brad Biggs, chicagotribune.com, "Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on Bears’ 31-15 win over the Redskins in Week 3," 24 Sep. 2019 For example, the health system in Wuhan, the city where three-fourths of China's victims died, was overwhelmed at the peak of the outbreak. — Barnini Chakraborty, Fox News, "China's low COVID-19 body count, secrecy adds to credibility concerns," 14 Apr. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fourth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.