sixty

noun six·ty \ ˈsiks-tē \

Updated on: 17 Apr 2018

Definition of sixty

plural sixties

1 : a number that is equal to six times 10 — see Table of Numbers

2 sixties plural : the numbers 60 to 69; specifically : the years 60 to 69 in a lifetime or century

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sixtieth

play \ˈsiks-tē-əth\ adjective or noun

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sixty

adjective

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sixty

pronoun, plural in construction

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sixtyish

play \ˈsiks-tē-ish\ adjective

See sixty defined for English-language learners

See sixty defined for kids

Examples of sixty in a Sentence

He retired when he was in his sixties.

Recent Examples of sixty from the Web

Treatment of women in professional and academic situations has changed—and significantly so—since those sixties-California-campus days.

— sarah scoles, WIRED, "The Woman Who Knows Everything About the Universe," 4 Apr. 2018
Starting in the late sixties, efforts to monitor enemy combatants abroad and dissident groups at home spurred data-collection efforts such as the Cambridge Project and CONUS Intel, the latter of which led to congressional hearings on privacy.

— sheelah kolhatkar, The New Yorker, "Briefly Noted," 2 Apr. 2018
This purity of the late sixties, the early seventies.

— Longreads, "“We All Had the Same Acid Flashback at the Same Time”: The New American Cuisine," 29 Mar. 2018
There was something about the camaraderie and the community in the late sixties.

— ryan h. walsh, BostonGlobe.com, "Boston’s most radical TV show blew the minds of a stoned generation in 1967," 1 Mar. 2018
Catholic school educated, this was a time of the mid-sixties, before Internet and the public discussion or awareness of transgender people.

— emily wax-thibodeaux, Washington Post, "‘We all have the right to defend freedom’: Transgender veterans speak out against Trump’s ban," 29 Mar. 2018
And an account similar to predictive processing was proposed in the eighteen-sixties by the Prussian physicist Hermann von Helmholtz.

— naomi fry, The New Yorker, "The Mind-Expanding Ideas of Andy Clark," 26 Mar. 2018
All six, who are in their sixties, once had their assets frozen by the U.S. as punishment for supporting the military coup that overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

— jacqueline charles, miamiherald, "Haiti has a new army with much of the old leadership. Some in the U.S. aren’t happy | Miami Herald," 26 Mar. 2018
Birley’s exquisite taste lured a louche, glamorous set, and Annabel’s, from the sixties to the eighties, became the spot—the most fun place to go after dinner for a late-night boogie, or for cocktails and cigarettes in the atmospheric Buddha Room.

— pascal chevallier, Vogue, "The Reinvention of Annabel’s, London’s Legendary Nightclub," 19 Mar. 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of sixty

Middle English, from sixty, adjective, from Old English siextig, noun, group of sixty, from siex six + -tig group of ten; akin to Old English tīen ten

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

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