Dictionary

fifties en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈfɪftiz/

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) From or evoking the 51st through 60th years of a century (chiefly the 1950s).
   • 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. 2008, Gabriella Gahlia Modan, Turf Wars: Discourse, Diversity, and the Politics of Place, Wiley, →ISBN, page 4:
   • Don't bring ambrosia, this isn't a fifties potluck.

Forms

fifties en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈfɪftiz/

Meanings

1. (form-of, plural) plural of fifty
   form of fifty
2. (plural, plural-only) The sixth decade of a century: the 1850s, 1950s, 2050s, etc.
   • I will probably be dead by the fifties.
   • The fifties were the heyday of the excursion train, with the 1851 Exhibition naturally giving a great boost to such traffic. 1954 June, R. Marchant, “Early Excursion Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 427:
   • America in the fifties also had its share of reactionary political violence. 2025 August 5, Danny Goldberg, “A Guest Post By Danny Goldberg: Culture, Empathy And Resistance”, in DownWithTyranny, archived from the original on 23 Dec 2025:
3. (plural, plural-only) The decade of one's life from age 50 through age 59.
   • You don't really start living until you're in your fifties!
   • […] 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. 2002, Laurance L. Priddy, Critical Evidence, page 96:
   • 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. 2017 May 14, Loren Balhorn, “The Lost History of Antifa”, in Jacobin Magazine, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2025:
4. (plural, plural-only, qualifier:rates) The range between 50 and 59 Fahrenheit.
   • It can't snow tonight; it's forecast to be in the fifties!

Forms

Deriveds

nineteen-fifties · furious fifties

Relateds

1700s · 1710s · 1720s · 1730s · 1740s · 1750s · 1760s · 1770s · 1780s · 1790s · aughts · zeros · zeroes · 2000s · 2010s · 2020s · 2030s · 2040s · 2050s · 2060s · 2070s · 2080s · 2090s · noughties · 1800s · 1810s · 1820s · 1830s · 1840s · 1850s · 1860s · 1870s · 1880s · 1890s · Hungry Forties · Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties · tens · 2200s · 2210s · 2220s · 2230s · 2240s · 2250s · 2260s · 2270s · 2280s · 2290s · 2100s · 2110s · 2120s · 2130s · 2140s · 2150s · 2160s · 2170s · 2180s · 2190s · 1900s · 1910s · 1920s · 1930s · 1940s · 1950s · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s · teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties · 00s · 10s · 20s · 30s · 40s · 50s · 60s · 70s · 80s · 90s · '00s · '10s · '20s · '30s · '40s · '50s · '60s · '70s · '80s · '90s · oughts · oneties · 00's · 10's · 20's · 30's · 40's · 50's · 60's · 70's · 80's · 90's · quinquagenarian

Synonyms

'50s · 50s · 1950s

Translations (28)

ka 50-იანი წლები (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · da halvtredserne (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · hu ötvenes évek (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · de Fünfziger (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · fi viisikymmentäluku (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · de fünfziger Jahre (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · ja 五十年代 (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · pl lata 50. (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · ko 50년대 (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · cmn 50年代 (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · fr années cinquante (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · ka ორმოცდაათიანი წლები (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · nb 1950-tallet (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · nl jaren vijftig (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · ka ორმოცდაათიანები (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · fr années 50 (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · pl lata pięćdziesiąte (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · es años cincuenta (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · ja 50年代 (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · sv femtiotal (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · ga caogaidí (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · sv femtiotalet (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · nl jaren 1950 (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · cmn 五十年代 (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · cy pumdegau (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · ko 오십년대 (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · ka 50-იანები (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.) · nl jaren 50 (The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.)