fifties meaning: definition, quotations

fifties

noun

/ˈfɪftiz/

The sixth decade of a century: the 1850s, 1950s, 2050s, etc.

I will probably be dead by the fifties.
The fifties were the heyday of the excursion train, with the 1851 Exhibition naturally giving a great boost to such traffic.1954 June, R. Marchant, “Early Excursion Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 427:

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America in the fifties also had its share of reactionary political violence.2025 August 5, Danny Goldberg, “A Guest Post By Danny Goldberg: Culture, Empathy And Resistance”, in DownWithTyranny, archived from the original on 23 Dec 2025:

The decade of one's life from age 50 through age 59.

You don't really start living until you're in your fifties!
[…] doing variations on Old Devil Moon on trumpet, backed by an aging hippy on drums, a stringbeany, college student type on upright bass, and a balding man in his fifties playing an effectively understated piano.2002, Laurance L. Priddy, Critical Evidence, page 96:

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Albrecht Lein reports that the core of the Braunschweig Antifa was made up of KPD and SPD members in their forties and fifties who had avoided the front, though Catholic workers’ organizations and other forces were also involved.2017 May 23, Loren Balhorn, “The Lost History of Antifa”, in Jacobin Magazine, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2025:

Temperature The range between 50 and 59 Fahrenheit.

Synonyms: 1950s, '50s, 50s
Derived terms: furious fifties, nineteen-fifties
Related terms: quinquagenarian, 1700s · 1710s · 1720s · 1730s · 1740s · 1750s · 1760s · 1770s · 1780s · 1790s, 1800s · 1810s · 1820s · 1830s · 1840s · 1850s · 1860s · 1870s · 1880s · 1890s, 1900s · 1910s · 1920s · 1930s · 1940s · 1950s · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s, 2000s · 2010s · 2020s · 2030s · 2040s · 2050s · 2060s · 2070s · 2080s · 2090s, 2100s · 2110s · 2120s · 2130s · 2140s · 2150s · 2160s · 2170s · 2180s · 2190s, 2200s · 2210s · 2220s · 2230s · 2240s · 2250s · 2260s · 2270s · 2280s · 2290s, 00s · 10s · 20s · 30s · 40s · 50s · 60s · 70s · 80s · 90s, '00s · '10s · '20s · '30s · '40s · '50s · '60s · '70s · '80s · '90s, 00's · 10's · 20's · 30's · 40's · 50's · 60's · 70's · 80's · 90's, zeros, zeroes, aughts, noughties, oughts · oneties, tens, teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties, Hungry Forties · Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties

adj

From or evoking the 51st through 60th years of a century (chiefly the 1950s).

Don't bring ambrosia, this isn't a fifties potluck.
As they inspect the message, "Happy B-day Netta," the bakery clerk places four plastic figures around the edges of the cake. The figures have fifties hairstyles and clothing, and they are in rock 'n roll dancing poses.2008, Gabriella Gahlia Modan, Turf Wars: Discourse, Diversity, and the Politics of Place, Wiley, →ISBN, page 4: