eighteen
Americannoun
-
eighteens
plural
-
a cardinal number, ten plus eight.
-
a symbol for this number, as 18 or XVIII.
-
a set of this many persons or things.
adjective
noun
-
the cardinal number that is the sum of ten and eight and the product of two and nine See also number
-
a numeral, 18, XVIII, etc, representing this number
-
the amount or quantity that is eight more than ten
-
something represented by, representing, or consisting of 18 units
-
(functioning as singular or plural) a team of 18 players in Australian Rules football
determiner
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of eighteen
before 1000; Middle English ehtetene, Old English eahtatēne; cognate with Old Norse āttjān, German achtzehn. See eight, -teen
Vocabulary lists containing eighteen
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At age eighteen, he joined the Wiltshire militia in 1807.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
Toeing the government line, Ratcliffe reiterated that tracking emerging technologies has been his highest priority, "right up there with China," since he took office eighteen months ago.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
He has been living in Washington DC for eighteen months, the source said.
From BBC ● May 24, 2026
“I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. . . . Everyone else in my family is dead.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
This second set of ash reached between ten and eighteen miles from Mount St. Helens and within six minutes had covered an area as big as ten Manhattans laid next to each other.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
“Ooh wee! Yo, Benny, we got steel and eighteens on this one!” he shouted like he was talking about a car.
From "The Boy in the Black Suit" by Jason Reynolds
At hazard I grasped at the rest of my treasure, And crammed all pockets with dainty eighteens; I packed up a pillow case, heaping good measure, And turned me away from the saddest of scenes.
From In the Track of the Bookworm by Irving Browne
V Then awoke all hell below From that broadside, doubly curst, For our long eighteens in row Leaped the first discharge and burst!
From Complete Poetical Works by Bret Harte
The Neversink's main-deck-batteries then consisted, as now, of twenty-four-pounders; the Macedonian's of only eighteens.
From White Jacket or, the World on a Man-of-War by Herman Melville
Accordingly General Taylor ordered the supply train to be parked at its position and left under the guard of two twelve-pounders and the fatal eighteens which had done such signal service on the 8th.
From History of the War Between Mexico and the United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1 by Brantz Mayer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
