Word: Fifteen

Pronunciation

/ˌfɪfˈtiːn/

Definitions

Numeral: The cardinal number occurring after fourteen and before sixteen, represented in numerals as 15. It can be used to indicate quantity, position in a series, or a specific time (e.g., quarter past three).

Phrases

• “Fifteen minutes”: A quarter of an hour.
• “Fifteen years old”: Refers to someone who has reached that age.
• “Fifteen items or less”: A common phrase used in supermarkets for the number of items allowed in a checkout line.
• “A baker’s dozen”: A phrase meaning 13, with “fifteen” sometimes being used humorously to refer to 14 because it adds an extra item to make up for any potential shortfall (i.e., “a baker’s fifteen”).

Example Sentences

• Numeral: “There were fifteen people at the dinner party last night.”
• “She celebrated her fifteenth birthday with a big party.”
• “We need to wait for another fifteen minutes before the train arrives.”

Synonyms

• 15
• XV (in Roman numerals)
• A quince (informal)

Note: As “fifteen” is a numeral, it doesn’t have direct synonyms in the same sense that other parts of speech do. However, when referring to the same quantity, one could use alternative ways to express the number fifteen (as shown above).