dozen
dozens
A dozen is twelve. If you buy a dozen doughnuts for six people, everyone will get to eat two of them.
When you buy a dozen of something, you'll end up with twelve items. Your cat might, amazingly, have a dozen kittens, leading you to make a dozen phone calls trying to find homes for them all. Sometimes people use the word dozens to generically mean "a whole lot," as when you gasp, "There are dozens of seagulls sitting on my car!" Dozen has a Latin root, duodecim, "twelve."
Definitions of dozen
-
the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one
-
types:
-
boxcars
(usually plural) an expression used when two dice are thrown and both come up showing six spots
-
type of:
-
large integer
an integer equal to or greater than ten
-
boxcars
-
denoting a quantity consisting of 12 items or units
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘dozen'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
Send us feedback
Word Family
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Look up dozen for the last time
Close your vocabulary gaps with personalized learning that focuses on teaching the words you need to know.
