Etimology
From Middle English centurie (“a count of one hundred (of anything); a division of the Roman army; century; a division of land”), from Old French centurie, from Latin centuria, from centum (“one hundred”). The most common modern use is a shortening of century of years.
noun
century (plural centuries)
A period of 100 consecutive years; often specifically a numbered period with conventional start and end dates, e.g., the twentieth century, which stretches from (strictly) 1901 through 2000, or (informally) 1900 through 1999. The first century AD was from 1 to 100.
A unit in ancient Roman army, originally of 100 army soldiers as part of a cohort, later of more varied sizes (but typically containing 60 to 70 or 80) soldiers or other men (guards, police, firemen), commanded by a centurion.
A political division of ancient Rome, meeting in the Centuriate Assembly.
A hundred things of the same kind; a hundred.
(cricket) A hundred runs scored either by a single player in one innings, or by two players in a partnership.
(snooker) A score of one hundred points.
(sports) A race a hundred units (as meters, kilometres, miles) in length.
(US, informal) A banknote in the denomination of one hundred dollars.
Examples
He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.
Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
Holonyms: maniple, cohort, legion
'tis the subject of whole books: I might cite a century of authors pro and con.
Hamilton reached his century 14 years after securing his maiden pole in the Canadian Grand Prix in 2007, which he went on to win to take the first step on the road to becoming Formula One's most successful driver.
That was his tenth professional century.
Related words
synonyms
(period of 100 years): centennium (rare); yearhundred (v. rare); centenary (obsolete)
(Roman military unit): centuria
related terms
centurion