ten
number /ten/
/ten/
Idioms - 10
- There are only ten of these rare animals left.
- ten of Sweden’s top financial experts
- Twelve people were invited but only ten turned up.
- Do you have change for ten dollars?
- a ten-month contract
- Look at page ten.
- Ten and two is twelve.
- Two tens are twenty.
- I can't read your writing—is this meant to be a ten?
- The bulbs are planted in sevens or tens (= groups of seven or ten).
- We moved to America when I was ten (= ten years old).
- Shall we meet at ten (= at ten o'clock), then?
Word OriginOld English tēn, tīen, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch tien and German zehn, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit daśa, Greek deka, and Latin decem.
Idioms
ten out of ten (for something)
- (British English, often ironic) used to say that somebody has guessed something correctly or done something very well
- Not brilliant, Robyn, but I'll give you ten out of ten for effort.
ten to one
- (informal) very probably
- Ten to one he'll be late.
two/ten a penny (British English)
(North American English a dime a dozen)
- very common and therefore not valuable
- Teachers of history are ten a penny.