nineties

English

Alternative forms

• 90s
• (decade): '90s, Nineties

Noun

nineties pl (plural only)

1. plural of ninety
2. The decade of one's life from age 90 through age 99.
3. (temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 90 and 99.

Derived terms

• nervous nineties

See also

• nonagenarian

Noun

the nineties pl or sg

1. The decade of the 1890s, 1990s, etc.
   • 1914, Amherst College, “Amherst graduates' quarterly”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 4, page 6:

     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.

   • 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.

   • 1959 October, G. H. Robin, “Railways to Helensburgh—a pre-electrification prospect”, in Trains Illustated, page 541:

     The line was doubled in the nineties and Hillfoot station added for suburbanites in 1900.

   • 2001, Gay Hawkins, “The ABC and Rhetorics of Choice”, in Tony Bennett, David Carter, editors, Culture in Australia: Policies, Publics and Programs, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 176:

     While PSB [public service broadcasting] has always been subject to multiple influences there is no question that the nineties was a period of massive structural transformation.

Hyponyms

• 1790s
• 1890s
• 1990s
• 2090s

Derived terms

• Gay Nineties
• Naughty Nineties

Translations

See also

References

• Neha Karve (2021 June 9) “The ’90s Was or Were: Are Decades and Centuries Singular or Plural?”, in Editor’s Manual‎, archived from the original on 5 December 2021.

Adjective

nineties (not comparable)

1. From or evoking the 91st through 100th years of a century (chiefly the 1990s).

   I found myself attracted to his mullet even though it struck me as needlessly nineties.

   • 1997, Catherine M. Scharle, “Environmental Children's Books Created by the Hearts and Hands of High School Students”, in The English Journal, volume 86, number 7, →DOI, pages 86–90:

     Nineties kids are honestly "fired up" about their environment. Students are aware and worried that their world is being destroyed, and teachers only need to tap into that hidden stream of interest.

Anagrams

• Einstein, einstein

French

Noun

nineties f pl (plural only)

1. nineties (decade)