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# decade

noun (a decade, decades)

«decade» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A decade is a period of ten years. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#m1)
2. A decade is also a group of ten, like ten beads on a rosary. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#m2)

### In the lessons

In maths and history lessons it is used to measure time: one decade = 10 years, two decades = 20 years. It tells the reader a long time has passed. Phrases: for decades, over the past decade, a decade ago, the next decade.

### Examples

- A decade is ten years. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x1)
- My grandparents have lived in this house for five decades. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x2)
- The old tree has grown a lot over the last decade. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x3)
- Two decades equal twenty years. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x4)
- My mum hasn't seen her cousin for a decade. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x5)
- The town has changed a lot in the past decade. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x6)
- If a tree grows 30 centimetres a year, it grows 300 centimetres in a decade. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/#x7)

### Note

Countable: a decade, decades. In maths: 1 decade = 10 years; 1 century = 100 years = 10 decades. «Decades» alone means «many years» (at least twenty). Do not confuse with «decayed» (rotted).

## In Jewish tradition

In Sefer Yetzirah, the "decade" is the group of ten Sefirot, the ten basic numbers or powers through which God made the world.

**Interpretation.** Tradition reads the ten as the ten "infinitudes" or utterances that work with the 22 letters to form creation. Pythagoras's followers also thought ten was a holy number.

### Examples

- The decade out of nothing has the following ten infinitudes: (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/decade/#x1)
- They consist of a decade out of nothing \[5\] and of twenty-two fundamental letters. (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/decade/#x2)
- The disciples of Pythagoras looked upon the decade as a holy number, and swore by it and by the Tetraktys which contain the number ten, (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/decade/#x3)

### Note

Countable: a decade, decades. In maths: 1 decade = 10 years; 1 century = 100 years = 10 decades. «Decades» alone means «many years» (at least twenty). Do not confuse with «decayed» (rotted).

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «decade» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decade/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«decade» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/decade.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «decade» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/decade/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«decade» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/decade.html) on Mova free.