seventy

noun sev·en·ty \ ˈse-vən-tē , ˈse-bᵊm- , -dē \

Updated on: 10 Apr 2018

Definition of seventy

plural seventies

1 : a number equal to seven times 10 — see Table of Numbers

2 seventies plural : the numbers 70 to 79; specifically : the years 70 to 79 in a lifetime or century

3 capitalized : a Mormon elder ordained for missionary work under the apostles

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seventieth

play \ˈse-vən-tē-əth, ˈse-bᵊm-, -dē-\ adjective or noun

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seventy

adjective

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seventy

pronoun, plural in construction

See seventy defined for English-language learners

See seventy defined for kids

Examples of seventy in a Sentence

She is in her seventies.

Recent Examples of seventy from the Web

Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the seventies and eighties, Small Fry is an enthralling book by an insightful new literary voice.

— verne kopytoff, Fortune, "Steve Jobs' Daughter Is Writing a Memoir About Their Complicated Relationship," 16 Mar. 2018
Lately, his podcast Atlanta Monster, about the Atlanta child murders of the late seventies and early eighties, has soared to the top of the iTunes podcast charts.

— susannah hutcheson, USA TODAY, "How I became a podcast creator: Payne Lindsey's hit series leads to TV deal," 20 Mar. 2018
Until very recently, Bob Rogers, a retired coal miner in his seventies, thought his party was dead.

— nash jenkins / washington county, Time, "Special Election Results in Trump County Give Democrats Hope," 15 Mar. 2018
One day in 2013, Deschamps-Braly learned that another surgeon trained by Tessier, Douglas Ousterhout, who was in his late seventies, was looking for someone to take over his practice, in San Francisco.

— jane mayer, The New Yorker, "The Story of a Trans Woman’s Face," 12 Mar. 2018
But that was a long time ago, the seventies, an era when a fiction editor could rule like a czar—or a superhero.

— Vogue, "All Men, All the Time: A Former Literary Editor Remembers the World Before #MeToo," 15 Feb. 2018
Like many people in their seventies and eighties, Buddy Elias and his wife Gertie are downsizing – clearing out the attic and getting rid of several generations’ worth of papers, clutter and possessions from their family home in Basel, Switzerland.

— karen bartlett, Newsweek, "Bringing Anne Frank Home - to Germany," 5 Feb. 2015
In a little cove designated as the art department, designers are surrounded by inspirational images that draw deeply on the seventies and eighties, a time when people got their aerobics in aerobics classes, bodies were softer, and happy was cool.

— sean thomas, Vogue, "How Outdoor Voices Is Taking Over The Fitness-Apparel World," 11 Jan. 2018
One female tenant in her seventies was addicted to OxyContin.

— kaya laterman, New York Times, "Getting a Roommate in Your Golden Years," 12 Jan. 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of seventy

seventy, adjective, from Middle English, from Old English seofontig, short for hundseofontig, from hundseofontig, noun, group of seventy, from hund hundred + seofon seven + -tig group of ten; akin to Old English tīen ten

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

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