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forties

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forties¹

noun 'forties · 1940s · '40s · 40s

  1. plural plural of forty

noun 'forties · 1940s · '40s · 40s

  1. plural, plural only The fifth decade of a century: the 1840s, 1940s, 2040s, etc. My ma was born in the forties and my pa was born in the seventies.

    Similar: '40s, 40s

  2. plural, plural only The decade of one's life from age 40 through age 49. They're both in their forties.
  3. plural, plural only The range between 40 and 49. What to wear when the weather is in the forties really depends on whether you're talking Fahrenheit or Celsius.

adjective 'forties · 1940s · '40s · 40s

  1. not comparable From or evoking the 41st through 50th years of a century (chiefly the 1940s). Two forties aircraft sat forgotten in the hangar until they were rediscovered by two trespassing teens.

Forties²

Where it comes from

From forties, due to the dpth of the area.

proper noun

  1. A sea area, in the northern part of the North Sea, where the depth of water is consistently forty fathoms

    Similar: Long Forties

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: mid-forties, midlife, wartime, post-depression, middle-age, prime-time, maturity, prime, adulthood, fifties, eighties, seventies, twenties, nineties, zeros, tens

Translations

Every language

noun the fifth decade of a century: the 1840s, 1940s, 2040s, etc.

Españolaños cuarenta, década de 1940
한국어사십년대 sasimnyeondae, 40년대 sasimnyeondae
日本語四十年代 yonjū-nendai, 40年代 yonjū-nendai
中文四十年代 sìshí niándài, 40年代 sìshí niándài
Françaisannées quarante, années 40
Deutschvierziger Jahre, Vierziger
Italianoquarantenne, anta, anni quaranta
Русскийсороковы́е sorokovýje

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MLA

"forties." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/forties. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

forties. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/forties

Chicago

"forties." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/forties.

BibTeX
@misc{forties_2026,
  title = {forties},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/forties},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}