five-and-dime
noun
variants
or less commonly five-and-ten
plural five-and-dimes also five-and-tens
: a retail store that carries a variety of chiefly inexpensive merchandise
When I was a little girl you could still buy things at the five-and-dime.—Nikki Giovanni
But most five-and-dimes faded away, done in by competition from big box stores, or failure to adapt to changing tastes quickly enough.—Carl Nolte
After the grocery store came the five-and-ten, a rambling, comfortable hodgepodge of unrelated items and scents.—Lee Ebler
Cite this Entry
“Five-and-dime.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/five-and-dime. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.
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