centurynoun [ C ]
uk/ˈsen.tʃər.i/us/ˈsen.tʃər.i/A2 a period of 100 years:
The city centre has scarcely changed in over a century.
This sculpture must be centuries old.
Her medical career spanned half a century.
Compare
millennium
a period of 100 years counted from what is believed to be the year of the birth of Jesus Christ:
Rome was founded in the eighth century BC (= before Christ).
He's an expert on 15th-century Italian art.
a score of 100 runs in cricket
the turn of the century
the time when one century ends and another begins:
The museum reopened at the turn of the century.
More examples
- Life in the 19th century was very different from what it is now.
- Peru was colonized by the Spanish in the 16th century.
- She was probably the most highly educated prime minister of this century.
- For centuries, Native Americans traded with European settlers.
- For more than half a century, the reassuring tones of BBC newscasters have informed British television viewers about world events.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Decades, centuries & the millennium
- decade
- eighties
- fifties
- fin-de-siècle
- forties
- millennial
- millennium
- nineties
- noughties
- seventies
- sixties
- teens
- the
- thirties
- twenties
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
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