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Century vs Decades - What's the difference?

century | decades |

As nouns the difference between century and decades

is that century is a period of 100 consecutive years; often specifically a numbered period with conventional start and end dates, e.g., the twentieth century, which stretches from (strictly) 1901 through 2000, or (informally) 1900 through 1999. The first century AD was from 1 to 100; a yearhundred while decades is plural of lang=en.

century

English

(wikipedia century)

Noun

(centuries)
  • A period of 100 consecutive years; often specifically'' a numbered period with conventional start and end dates, e.g., the ''twentieth century'', which stretches from (''strictly'') 1901 through 2000, or (''informally'') 1900 through 1999. The ''first century AD was from 1 to 100; a yearhundred.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
    • , title=(The China Governess), chapter=Foreword citation , passage=He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.}}
  • A unit in ancient Roman army, originally of 100 army soldiers as part of a cohort, later of more varied sizes (but typically containing 60 to 70 or 80) soldiers or other men (guards, police, firemen), commanded by a centurion.
  • A political division of ancient Rome, meeting in the Centuriate Assembly.
  • (archaic)  A hundred things; a hundred.
  • *, II.4.2.i:
    • 'tis the subject of whole books: I might cite a century of authors pro'' and ''con .
  • (cricket)  A hundred runs scored either by a single player in one innings, or by two players in a partnership.
  • (cycling)  A ride 100 kilometres in length.
  • (US, informal)  A banknote in the denomination of one hundred dollars.

    • Synonyms

    * yearhundred (very rare) * (Roman army unit) centuria

    Derived terms

    * centuried * century break

    Related terms

    * centurion

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words

    decades

    English

    Noun

    (head)
  • .
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-17, volume=408, issue=8849, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= One nation, behind bars , passage=For decades American politicians have assumed that mass incarceration works, wooing voters with ever-tougher sentencing laws. The dramatic fall in crime since the 1990s has persuaded many that they were right. Locking up the worst criminals while they are young, fit and dangerous clearly makes America safer. But keeping sad cases ----