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Glite Dictionary
one-fifth

one-fifth

17 1.1
One of five equal parts of a whole
  • noun
  • /wʌn fɪfθ/
translation icon : quinto
  • One justification for spending nearly one-fifth of the United States GDP on healthcare is that high-quality health outcomes will result.
  • about one-fifth
  • only one-fifth
  • approximately one-fifth

Examples

  • Less than one-fifth had used non-US health care in the past two years.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The recipients had a mean age of 78, and one-fifth were 85 years old or older.

    Academic text (1991)

  • I shall grant you one-fifth the auction price.

    Sinbad the Sailor (1947)

  • Did you know that over one-fifth of all the grain on this planet is destroyed by rats?

    Of Unknown Origin (1983)

  • Between 1960 and 1990 alone, developing countries lost one-fifth of their natural tropical forest cover.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Between 1980 and 2000, Alaska accounted for an average of one-fifth of U.S. oil production.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Financial impediments were most frequent, occurring in more than one-fifth of the cases.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Whereas 40% and 21% indicated they were working full and part-time, respectively, about one-fifth were currently in school.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Two-thirds of the students in the sample were female, and one-fifth were minorities.

    Academic text (1996)

  • About one-fifth of the students in the class passed the exam this year.

Synonyms

fifth
vsone-fifth
30 1.0

One of five equal parts of something

uses numeric fraction form rather than the short naming word
twenty percent
vsone-fifth
20 1.0

An amount equal to twenty out of every one hundred

expresses the same proportion using a fraction with denominator five
fifth part
vsone-fifth
1.2

One of five equal parts of a whole

uses the explicit fraction with numbers instead of the two-word phrase

How Much

whole
484 1.0
one-half
61 1.0
one-third
129 1.0
one-quarter
29 1.0
one-fifth
17 1.1
one-eighth
3 1.0
one-tenth
18 1.0

Surface Forms

one-fifth singular
one-fifths plural

Morphology

one-fifth = one + fifth (transparent) = one + fifth

A direct compound of the numeral 'one' and the fraction 'fifth'; the meaning (1/5) is directly derived from the parts.

Etymology

The word one-fifth is made of one and fifth, where fifth comes from five and means 'one of five equal parts', so one-fifth literally means 'one of five equal parts'.