DOZEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dozen mean? 

• DOZEN (noun)
  The noun DOZEN has 1 sense:

1. the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one

  Familiarity information: DOZEN used as a noun is very rare.

• DOZEN (adjective)
  The adjective DOZEN has 1 sense:

1. denoting a quantity consisting of 12 items or units

  Familiarity information: DOZEN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DOZEN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

12; dozen; twelve; XII

Hypernyms ("dozen" is a kind of...):

large integer (an integer equal to or greater than ten)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dozen"):

boxcars ((usually plural) an expression used when two dice are thrown and both come up showing six spots)

Derivation:

dozen (denoting a quantity consisting of 12 items or units)

• DOZEN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Denoting a quantity consisting of 12 items or units

Synonyms:

12; dozen; twelve; xii

Similar:

cardinal (being or denoting a numerical quantity but not order)

Derivation:

dozen (the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one)

 Context examples 

A dozen times he charged, and as often the club broke the charge and smashed him down.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The second mission extension provided dozens of flybys of the planet's icy moons, using the spacecraft's remaining rocket propellant along the way.

(Cassini Spacecraft Ends Its Historic Exploration of Saturn, NASA)

We sat down to dinner, with some half-dozen little girls; and he seemed but the shadow of his handsome picture on the wall.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The results peg 2007 OR10 as the largest unnamed world in our solar system and the third largest of the current roster of about half a dozen dwarf planets.

(2007 OR10: Largest Unnamed World in the Solar System, NASA)

The researchers found dozens of sizeable permanently shadowed regions across the northern hemisphere.

(Dawn Maps Ceres Craters Where Ice Can Accumulate, NASA)

A cholesterol deficiency can cause several diseases, and the substance is the starting material for making the body's dozen or so steroid hormones.

(Researchers Zero-In on Cholesterol's Role in Cells, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Observations obtained by the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) on the Dawn spacecraft previously found water ice in a dozen sites on Ceres.

(NASA Dawn Reveals Recent Changes in Ceres' Surface, NASA)

It seems that he has been seal-hunting regularly each season for a dozen years, and is accounted one of the two or three very best boat-steerers in both fleets.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Now, the team has found dozens of these events in data collected by NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer.

(Meteoroid Strikes Eject Precious Water From Moon, NASA)

Take the cylinders and hear them—the first half-dozen of them are personal to me, and they will not horrify you; then you will know me better.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)