FORTY-EIGHT Definition & Meaning

forty-eight

[ fawr-tee-eyt ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

a cardinal number, 40 plus 8.
a symbol for this number, such as 48 or XLVIII.
a set of 48 persons or things:
Of the two parties that reserved a private room tonight, the forty-eight is the larger, so put them in the east dining room just off the lounge.
the forty-eight, Informal. the conterminous United States ( def ):
Crossing the border into Alberta, Canada, was the first time he’d ventured beyond the forty-eight.

amounting to 48 in number:
So far, forty-eight students have registered for soccer.

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Examples have not been reviewed.

“This poor girl’s had an arduous forty-eight hours. The least we can do is let her catch her breath.”

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Along with James Monroe, the fifth president, these men held office for forty of the first forty-eight years of the American presidency.

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At the Louvre, well over one hundred thousand visitors filed past the portrait in the first forty-eight hours.

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There were more earthquakes here in Alaska than anywhere in the lower forty-eight states, even California.

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John Wilkes Booth had assassinated the president almost forty-eight hours before, but the manhunters had no solid leads.

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