century
n. countable A1 Beginner Oxford US //ˈsɛntʃɝi// UK //sˈɛntʃəɹi// cen·tu·ry
n. a period of one hundred years. You also use this in sports like cricket to describe scoring one hundred points in a single game.
n. a period of one hundred consecutive years. In a sporting context, specifically cricket, it refers to a score of one hundred runs achieved by a single batsman in one innings.
The castle was built over a century ago.
The opening batsman raised his bat to the crowd after reaching his first century of the season.
While the eighteenth century is often defined by the Enlightenment, historians frequently debate whether such cultural shifts were felt equally across different social classes of the era.
Usage
Often used with the ordinal numbers (e.g., 'the 20th century') to name specific historical periods.