A decade is a period of ten years. It never means ten days: for that, English simply says ten days. Decade is used both in conversation and in academic writing, especially to describe change over a long period: a decade ago, over the past decade.
decade: will you get the meaning right?
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a decade ago; for a decade; over/in the past decade; for two/several decades; the first ten days of + month (not decade)
- I moved to Kazan a decade ago, and I've never wanted to live anywhere else.
- Online learning has changed a lot over the past decade.
- My parents have run the same small hotel for almost two decades.
What changed
First versionThe results will be published in the first decade of June.
RevisionThe results will be published in the first ten days of June.
In some languages a similar word means a period of ten days, and phrases like “the first decade of June” are normal. In English, decade is always ten years, so the sentence sounds like “in the first ten years of June”. Say the first ten days of June, or simply in early June if the exact dates don't matter.
For a particular decade on the calendar, people usually say the 1990s or the nineties: My parents met in the nineties. Decade is more useful when the length of time matters: over the past decade means “during the last ten years”.
Your turn
Our office will be closed for the first ___ of May because of the holidays.
Show the answer
ten days — The sentence is about days at the start of May, so you need ten days. A decade is ten years, and that won't fit into one month.
Write about how your town or profession has changed over the last ten years. Use decade and give one specific example of the change.
Over the past decade, my town has got a new tram line, so I no longer need a car to get to work.
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