Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The ordinal number matching the number 12 in a series.
- noun One of 12 equal parts.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Next in order after the eleventh: an ordinal numeral.
- Being one of twelve equal parts into which a whole is regarded as divided.
- noun One of twelve equal parts of anything; the quotient of unity divided by twelve.
- noun In early English law, a twelfth of the rents of the year, or of movables, or both, granted or levied by way of tax.
- noun In music, a tone twelve diatonic degrees above or below a given tone, or the interval between two such tones; a compound fifth.
- noun In organ-building, a stop giving tones a twelfth above the normal pitch of the digitals used.
- noun Twelfth-day.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Next in order after the eleventh; coming after eleven others; -- the ordinal of
twelve . - adjective Constituting, or being one of, twelve equal parts into which anything is divided.
- noun The quotient of a unit divided by twelve; one of twelve equal parts of one whole.
- noun The next in order after the eleventh.
- noun (Mus.) An interval comprising an octave and a fifth.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective ordinal The
ordinal form of thenumber twelve , describing a person or thing in position number12 of a sequence. - noun fractional One of twelve
equal parts of a whole. - noun music An
interval equal to anoctave plus afifth
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective coming next after the eleventh and just before the thirteenth in position
- noun one part in twelve equal parts
- noun position 12 in a countable series of things
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Heloise in twelfth century Paris certainly falls under this last category.
Sensual Encounters: Monastic Women and Spirituality in Medieval Germany 2008
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The twelfth century had the audacity of its passions, and Wagner at times talks almost plain twelfth century language. —
Unlikely music critic of the day (literally) Matthew Guerrieri 2007
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For me, gym class finally became almost bearable in twelfth-grade, when the emphasis shifted from team sports to what the teacher called "lifelong activities" like running, golf, and tennis.
Archive 2007-04-01 Roger Sutton 2007
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Song for Eloise set in twelfth century France and fifteen year old Eloise is married off to a man twice her age.
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For me, gym class finally became almost bearable in twelfth-grade, when the emphasis shifted from team sports to what the teacher called "lifelong activities" like running, golf, and tennis.
And if you're not Roger Sutton 2007
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Song for Eloise set in twelfth century France and fifteen year old Eloise is married off to a man twice her age.
Song for Eloise 2007
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The twelfth century had the audacity of its passions, and Wagner at times talks almost plain twelfth century language. —
Archive 2007-11-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2007
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Song for Eloise set in twelfth century France and fifteen year old Eloise is married off to a man twice her age.
Song for Eloise 2007
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Set in twelfth century Sicily think saracens, crusades, holy wars, internecine strife, monasteries usually enough there to latch onto but I have truly floundered with this one.
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Set in twelfth century Sicily think saracens, crusades, holy wars, internecine strife, monasteries usually enough there to latch onto but I have truly floundered with this one.
First Booker-thon failure The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth 2006
uselessness commented on the word twelfth
Great word! I'm trying to decide which I like better, this or eighth. Fifth gets honorable mention.
January 16, 2007
rdoermann commented on the word twelfth
This word is awesome because it at least three consonant sounds in a row. Or is it four? I think the most you can have in a row in the English language is four.
March 30, 2009
rolig commented on the word twelfth
It's three consonant sounds: /l/, /f/, and /th/; another ordinal with three consonant sounds is sixth: /k/, /s/, and /th/.
March 30, 2009
mollusque commented on the word twelfth
See the conversation at texts.
March 30, 2009