The twentieth item in a series is the one that you count as number twenty.
...the twentieth century.
2. fraction
A twentieth is one of twenty equal parts of something.
A few twentieths of a gram can be critical.
twentieth in British English
(ˈtwɛntɪɪθ)
adjective
1. (usually prenominal)
a.
coming after the nineteenth in numbering or counting order, position, time, etc; being the ordinal number of twenty: often written 20th
b.
(as noun)
he left on the twentieth
noun
2.
a.
one of 20 approximately equal parts of something
b.
(as modifier)
a twentieth part
3.
the fraction that is equal to one divided by 20 (1⁄20)
Word origin
from Old English twentigotha
twentieth in American English
(ˈtwɛntiɪθ; ˈtwɛniɪθ; ˈtwʌniɪθ)
adjective
1.
preceded by nineteen others in a series; 20th
2.
designating any of the twenty equal parts of something
noun
3.
the one following the nineteenth
4.
any of the twenty equal parts of something; 1⁄20
adverb
5.
in the twentieth place, rank, group, etc.
Word origin
ME twentithe, new formation for OE twentigotha: see twenty & -th2
Examples of 'twentieth' in a sentence
twentieth
It is his twentieth goal of the season.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
He was married two months before his twentieth birthday.
Shubert, Adrian A Social History of Modern Spain (1991)
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries this evolution was taking place.
Peregrine Worsthorne IN DEFENCE OF ARISTOCRACY (2004)
In the early twentieth century its goal was the abolition of war.
Herman, Judith Lewis Trauma and Recovery (1992)
Modern linguistics emerged as a distinct field in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Salkie, Raphael The Chomsky Update - Linguistics and Politics (1990)
The democratic constitutional trend of the nineteenth and twentieth century could not be entirely halted in the empire.
Grenville, J. A. S. The Collins History of the World in the 20th Century (1994)
Many are the families of comparatively recent inward migrants from the time of rapid industrialization in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Redwood, John The Global Marketplace (1993)
The book's best sections are devoted to dark periods of the twentieth century.
The Times Literary Supplement (2014)
The twentieth anniversary of the crush that killed 96 people is a fortnight away.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Four factors contributed to the change in the social position of the refugee during the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Bramwell, Anna C Refugees in the Age of Total War (1988)
Are political leaders on the Left up to the moral stature of the great socialist leader of the early twentieth century?
The Times Literary Supplement (2012)
That was the twentieth minute.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
But one also realizes that the year of this twentieth century brings us as we go into it and reminds us of great losses we have sustained.
Christianity Today (2000)
This November will be the twentieth anniversary of my mother's death.
The Times Literary Supplement (2010)
In peacetime in the first half of the twentieth century British policy-makers opted for balanced defence forces.
French, David The British way in Warfare - 1688-2000 (1990)
The monthly wage paid to northern workers is 31, one twentieth of what employers pay in the south.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
In other languages
twentieth
British English: twentieth /ˈtwɛntɪɪθ/ ADJECTIVE
The twentieth item in a series is the one that you count as number twenty.