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# decade

«decade» in Mova's school dictionary: **a period of ten years** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a decade, decades)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A decade is a period of ten years. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#m1)

2) A decade is also a group of ten, like ten beads on a rosary. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In maths and history lessons it is used to measure time: one decade = 10 years, two decades = 20 years. It tells the reader a long time has passed. Phrases: for decades, over the past decade, a decade ago, the next decade.

### examples

- A decade is ten years. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x1)
- My grandparents have lived in this house for five decades. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x2)
- The old tree has grown a lot over the last decade. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x3)
- Two decades equal twenty years. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x4)
- My mum hasn't seen her cousin for a decade. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x5)
- The town has changed a lot in the past decade. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x6)
- If a tree grows 30 centimetres a year, it grows 300 centimetres in a decade. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x7)

### note

Countable: a decade, decades. In maths: 1 decade = 10 years; 1 century = 100 years = 10 decades. «Decades» alone means «many years» (at least twenty). Do not confuse with «decayed» (rotted).

### In the corpora

- [Okean Elzy is a Ukrainian rock band formed in 1994 and popular for decades.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/5-the-songs-on-everyones-phone-streaming-playlists-earworms/14/)
- [Bamboo flowers and dies all at once every few decades, so pandas need several kinds of bamboo nearby.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/107-the-asian-forest-area-pandas-red-pandas-tapirs-sun-bears/8/)
- [An elephant family is led by its oldest female, the matriarch, who remembers water holes, paths and dangers over decades.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth/1/)
- [In London sparrow numbers fell by about two-thirds in a few decades, and scientists still argue why.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/369-city-birds-sparrows-starlings-swifts-crows-and-peregrines-on-tall-buildings/5/)
- [Grown-ups need friends too, and many keep best friends for decades.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/482-mums-best-friend-and-dads-mate-from-work/28/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «decade» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.