What does "fifth" mean?
The person or thing in the fifth position.
Fifth
adj, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·1 syllable ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The person or thing in the fifth position.
- Grammar: fifth is listed as adj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: 5th, bottle, canteen, consecutive intervals.
- Useful contrasts: compulsion to testify, entire, first.
- Usage evidence: A fire broke out on the fifth floor.
How to use "fifth"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "fifth" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "fifth" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "fifth" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "fifth" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "fifth" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "5th" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "fifth", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The person or thing in the fifth position.
- 2 the musical interval between one note and another five notes away from it wordnet
- 3 The person or thing in the fifth position.; The fifth gear of a transmission. ellipsis
- 4 a quantity of liquor equal to one fifth of a United States gallon wordnet
- 5 One of five equal parts of a whole: one-fifth.
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 one part in five equal parts wordnet
- 7 A quantity of liquor equal to one-fifth of an American gallon, or, more commonly, 750 milliliters (that is, three quarters of a liter). US
- 8 position five in a countable series of things wordnet
- 9 The musical interval between one note and another five scale degrees higher (the fifth note in a scale)
"Now I've heard there was a secret chord / That David played, and it pleased the Lord / But you don't really care for music, do ya? / It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth"
- 10 The fifth voice in a polyphonic melody.
Verb
- 1 To sing in the fifth voice in a polyphonic melody.
"Another extension of strict organum is 'fifthing'. Fifthing is a note-against- note method of creating a two-part texture by improvising a second voice over the given tune, starting and ending each musical phrase at the octave and proceeding mainly in fifths above the tune at others times."
- 2 To support something fifth, after four others have already done so. informal, transitive
"A lisping young “Soundings,” or master’s assistant, sung out “I thecond the mothon,” instantly transferring his beer to our hero’s face. In short the resolution was thirded, fourthed, fifthed, and sixthed, all following suit with the swipes:[…]"
- 3 To divide by five. nonstandard, transitive
"3/5 has been through fifthing. 2/3 has been through thirding. Therefore, 3/5 now needs thirding and 2/3 needs fifthing"
Adjective
- 1 The ordinal form of the number five. not-comparable
"On Friday, at a former Michelin factory in the north-east of the city, the finishing touches were being put in place for the fifth Dundee design festival, which opens on Monday."
Adjective
- 1 coming next after the fourth and just before the sixth in position wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 The Fifth Amendment. US, informal
- 2 The right not to give self-incriminating testimony. US, broadly, informal
- 3 Fifth Avenue. US
"[…] besides marrying Nate Archibald and living happily every after in the ivy-covered brick town house just off Fifth that she already had picked out"
- 4 Fifth Street. US
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"A fire broke out on the fifth floor."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "fifth"?
Common synonyms include: 5th, bottle, canteen, consecutive intervals, cruet, decimalization.
How do you use "fifth" in a sentence?
A fire broke out on the fifth floor.
Etymology
Etymology 1
PIE word *pénkʷe From Middle English fifthe, fifte, fift, from Old English fīfta (“fifth”), from Proto-Germanic *fimftô (“fifth”) or *femftô, equivalent to five + -th (ordinal suffix). Cognate with Scots fift, fyft (“fifth”), North Frisian fyfde (“fifth”), West Frisian fyfde (“fifth”), Dutch vijfde (“fifth”), Low German fifte, föfte, füfte (“fifth”), German fünfte (“fifth”), Danish femte (“fifth”), Swedish femte (“fifth”), Icelandic fimmta (“fifth”).
Etymology 2
(Fifth Amendment): From the name of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, protecting various rights in US legal proceedings.