ninety-three
A2Neutral (used across all registers)
Definition
Meaning
The cardinal number equal to 93, nine more than eighty-four.
Can refer to a specific year (e.g., 1993), a specific quantity, or be used in titles and codes (e.g., Highway 93).
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
A compound number formed by combining the tens place 'ninety' and the units place 'three'. It follows the standard English numbering pattern.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No significant difference in the numeral itself. Minor potential differences in phrasing when using 'and' (e.g., 'ninety-three' vs. the less common 'ninety and three').
Connotations
None.
Frequency
Equally common in both varieties.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
[Number] + Noun (e.g., ninety-three books)Verb + [Number] (e.g., costs ninety-three)Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “Dressed up to the nines (related to 'nine', not specifically 'ninety-three')”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
"The quarterly report shows a profit of ninety-three million."
Academic
"The sample size for the study was ninety-three participants."
Everyday
"My grandmother is ninety-three years young!"
Technical
"The error code displayed was ninety-three."
Examples
By Part of Speech
adjective
British English
- She has ninety-three first edition books.
- The ninety-third attempt was successful.
American English
- He owns ninety-three vintage guitars.
- We're on page ninety-three of the report.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- I am ninety-three centimetres tall.
- My phone number has a ninety-three in it.
- The recipe calls for ninety-three grams of flour.
- There are ninety-three days until my holiday.
- The law, passed in ninety-three, has since been amended.
- The survey yielded ninety-three usable responses.
- The artist's work from ninety-three reflects a period of profound experimentation.
- A correlation coefficient of .ninety-three indicates a very strong positive relationship.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of it as the age a very lucky person might reach (90) plus a small birthday party (3).
Conceptual Metaphor
QUANTITY IS VERTICALITY / MORE IS UP (e.g., 'The temperature rose to ninety-three degrees').
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Do not translate as 'девяносто три' word-for-word in contexts where English uses a numeral (93). The word form is only for specific, non-mathematical phrasing.
Common Mistakes
- Writing as 'ninty-three' (misspelling 'ninety'), 'ninety three' (without the hyphen is also acceptable in modern usage, but the hyphenated form is traditional for numbers 21-99).
Practice
Quiz
How is the number 93 correctly written in words?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Both are accepted in modern English, though style guides often recommend the hyphenated form for numbers twenty-one through ninety-nine.
The ordinal form is 'ninety-third' (e.g., She finished in ninety-third place).
In American English, the 't' in 'ninety' often becomes a flap 't' [ɾ], sounding similar to a soft 'd'.
Yes, numbers can function as nouns (e.g., Ninety-three is a prime number).