seventh

Pluralsevenths

1. 1
   adjective

   Coming after the sixth in a sequence; the ordinal that corresponds to the number seven.

   The seventh chapter finally explains how the mystery began.

   Their seventh attempt at the experiment produced clear results.

   Note

   A word whose middle consonant went missing and came back. Old English said seofoþa, without the n, which had dropped out early in the northern West Germanic dialects. The n was later restored by analogy with seven itself, so the word now reads plainly as seven + -th. Spelling settled slowly: Milton in 1659 still writes "seaventh part." In figures it is 7th, or VIIth in Roman style.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   The person or thing occupying the seventh position in a series or ranking.

   Among the applicants interviewed that day, he was the seventh.

   The judges called the seventh onto the stage for the final round.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   One of seven equal parts into which a whole is divided.

   Each heir received a seventh of the estate.

   Roughly three sevenths of the votes were still uncounted.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   In music, a tone seven degrees above a given tone, the interval between the two tones, or the two tones sounded together.

   The composer resolved the seventh down to the sixth in the closing bar.

   She struck a major seventh that gave the passage a dreamy color.

   Note

   Musicians rarely leave it bare. A major seventh spans eleven semitones and a minor seventh spans ten, one and two semitones short of the octave. The word does triple duty, naming the upper note, the distance to it, or both notes heard together. Context usually tells them apart: a seventh you play or resolve is a note, while a seventh you count or name as major or minor is an interval.

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