century

6 definitions • 11 examples

a period of 100 years:

The city centre has scarcely changed in over a century.

This sculpture must be centuries old.

Her medical career spanned half a century.

a period of 100 years counted from what is believed to be the year of the birth of Jesus Christ:

Rome was founded in the eighth century BC (= before Christ).

He's an expert on 15th-century Italian art.

a score of 100 runs (= points) in cricket:

Both captains scored centuries.

His third Test century came from only 135 balls.

the time when one century ends and another begins:

The museum reopened at the turn of the century.

a period of 100 years:

Her medical career spanned half a century.

A century is also a particular period of 100 years:

the fourth century B.C.

His music was influential in the 19th and 20th centuries.