century
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɛnt͡ʃʊɹi/
ipa: /ˈsɛnt͡ʃɹi/
ipa: /ˈsɛn(t)ʃ(ə)ɹi/
ipa: /ˈsen(t)ʃ(ə)ɹi/
rhymes: -ɛntʃʊɹiː
rhymes: -ɛntʃɹiː
rhymes: -ɛntʃəɹiː
homophone: sentry stripped-by-parse_pron_post_template_fn
Forms: form: centuries
Etymology: From Middle English centurie (“a count of one hundred (of anything); a division of the Roman army; century; a division of land”), from Old French centurie, from Latin centuria, from centum (“one hundred”). The most common modern use is a shortening of century of years.
Senses: examples: text: Holonyms: kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond
text: Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond < second < decasecond < minute < hectosecond < kilosecond < microcentury (humorous) < hour < day < week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond
text: He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
ref: 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 17 Jul 2020:
text: In 16th and 17th century Britain, for example, women’s alopecia was sometimes interpreted as retribution for sins, including adultery.
ref: 2024 March 31, Glen Jankowski, “Alopecia in art history: The many ways women’s hair loss has been interpreted”, in CNN:
text: But in fact the antinomy of exceptionalism and assimilationism has been there all along, and otherwise puzzling decisions from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries become readily understandable when seen as moments when assimilationism was ascendant.
ref: 2024 September 30, Michael Doran, “EXCEPTIONALISM AND ASSIMILATIONISM IN FEDERAL INDIAN LAW”, in Stanford Law School, volume 20, number 2, page 268:
synonyms: age
centennium
yearhundred
centenary
glosses: A period of one hundred consecutive years; often specifically a numbered period with conventional start and end dates, e.g., the twentieth century, which stretches from (strictly) 1901 through 2000, or (informally) 1900 through 1999. The first century AD was from 1 to 100.
examples: Holonyms: maniple, cohort, legion
synonyms: centuria
glosses: A unit in ancient Roman army, originally of one hundred army soldiers as part of a cohort, later of more varied sizes (but typically containing sixty to seventy or eighty) soldiers or other men (guards, police, firemen), commanded by a centurion.
glosses: A political division of ancient Rome, meeting in the Centuriate Assembly.
examples: text: 'tis the subject of whole books: I might cite a century of authors pro and con.
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 4, member 2, subsection i:
text: Hamilton reached his century 14 years after securing his maiden pole in the Canadian Grand Prix in 2007, which he went on to win to take the first step on the road to becoming Formula One's most successful driver.
ref: 2021 May 8, “'It's like my first' - history-maker Hamilton celebrates century of poles”, in France 24:
glosses: A hundred things of the same kind; a hundred.
examples: text: He has scored 44 limited-overs centuries.
text: They put on a century stand to help their team recover from 57–4 to 198–4.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A hundred runs scored either by a single player in one innings, or by two players in a partnership.
examples: text: That was his tenth professional century.
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
snooker
sports
glosses: A score of one hundred points.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A race a hundred units (as meters, kilometres, miles) in length.
glosses: A banknote in the denomination of one hundred dollars.
Derived terms: American Century
centurial
centuried
centuries-long
century break
century egg
centuryful
centurylong
century of humiliation
century plant
century year
half a century
half-century
light century
long eighteenth century
long nineteenth century
microcentury
mid-century
midcentury
mid-century modern
multicentury
nanocentury
of the century
quarter-century
semicentury
sesquicentury
short 20th century
short twentieth century
triple century
turn of the century
uncentury
yestercentury
Related terms: centurion
centennial
semicentennial
multicentennial
bicentennial
sesquicentennial
tricentennial
quadricentennial
quincentennial
sexcentennial
septicentennial
octocentennial
novocentennial
secular
plurisecular
multisecular
centenary
bicentenary
tricentenary
quadricentenary
quincentenary
sexcentenary
septicentenary
octocentenary
novocentenary
centenarian
multicentenarian