Meaning

plural of eighty.

Definitions by Sense

1. plural of eighty
2. The decade of the 1880s, 1980s, etc.
3. The decade of one's life from age 80 through age 89.
4. (temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 80 and 89.
5. From or evoking the 81st through 90th years of a century (chiefly the 1980s).

Example Sentences

Only kids born in the eighties remember this song!

1919, Harry Hamilton Johnston, The Gay-Dombeys: A Novel, Macmillan, page 172, He and his clever staff of minor blackguards exploited to the full every weakness and caries in the London Society of the 'eighties, 'nineties, and 'oughts.

Our readers — and contributors — are apt to elect a good deal according to years. The seventies and eighties, we may suppose, are concerned for the large educational and cultural interests of their Alma Mater; the nineties are deep in the practical and business activities; the noughties are not naughty, but still young enough to sport a fantastic costume at reunion and let the college wag as it will; the oneties are the really wise as to what the college ought to be, especially on its athletic side, but as contributors modest.

Only folks in their eighties remember this song!

No wonder I'm sweating, it's in the eighties!

Sue picked a playlist of eighties music for the dinner to remind her wife of that night they met all those years ago.

These publications can, however, be linked to a very eighties trend initiated among African American women writers like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker whose most distinguished novels deal with previously untold stories set deep in America's imperialist, slave-owning past.

Next to her, a woman with puffy sleeves, bright bubblegum makeup, and big eighties hair spoke melodiously into a microphone.

Word Forms

• Eighties
• 'eighties

Synonyms for eighties

Related Words

When Should You Use Eighties?

Use eighties when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions