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fifties

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

Alternative forms

  • (of the decade) 'fifties

Pronunciation

Noun

fifties

  1. plural of fifty

Noun

fifties pl (plural only)

  1. The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.
    I will probably be dead by the fifties.
    • 1954 June, R. Marchant, “Early Excursion Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 427:
      The fifties were the heyday of the excursion train, with the 1851 Exhibition naturally giving a great boost to such traffic.
    • 2025 August 5, Danny Goldberg, “A Guest Post By Danny Goldberg: Culture, Empathy And Resistance”, in DownWithTyranny‎, archived from the original on 23 December 2025:
      America in the fifties also had its share of reactionary political violence.
  2. The decade of one's life from age 50 through age 59.
    You don't really start living until you're in your fifties!
    • 2002, Laurance L. Priddy, Critical Evidence, page 96:
      […] doing variations on Old Devil Moon on trumpet, backed by an aging hippy on drums, a stringbeany, college student type on upright bass, and a balding man in his fifties playing an effectively understated piano.
    • 2017 May, Loren Balhorn, “The Lost History of Antifa”, in Jacobin Magazine‎, archived from the original on 18 March 2025:
      Albrecht Lein reports that the core of the Braunschweig Antifa was made up of KPD and SPD members in their forties and fifties who had avoided the front, though Catholic workers’ organizations and other forces were also involved.
  3. (temperature, rates) The range between 50 and 59 Fahrenheit.
    It can't snow tonight; it's forecast to be in the fifties!

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

decades in English (edit)
More information 18th century, 19th century ...

Adjective

fifties (not comparable)

  1. From or evoking the 51st through 60th years of a century (chiefly the 1950s).
    Don't bring ambrosia, this isn't a fifties potluck.
    • 2008, Gabriella Gahlia Modan, Turf Wars: Discourse, Diversity, and the Politics of Place, Wiley, →ISBN, page 4:
      As they inspect the message, "Happy B-day Netta," the bakery clerk places four plastic figures around the edges of the cake. The figures have fifties hairstyles and clothing, and they are in rock 'n roll dancing poses.

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