Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
📏 Distance end to end ⏳ Duration 🪢 A long piece 💻 Number of items
length

length

15 3.6
The number of items in a list or string
  • noun
  • /lɛŋkθ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : longitud
  • In programming, you can easily find the length of a string by using the 'length' function.
  • string length
  • variable length
  • fixed-length

OK, it doesn't really matter what length or how complicated your passcode is.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • So what's the sequence length if I just stay there?

  • Two strings are presented at each length; each item is worth one half point.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Right, so I want to set the length of this handle.

  • What is the maximum length allowed on YouTube Internet?

  • In this case is the length of this K vector.

  • Downloaded and deleted, a million characters in length.

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

  • Effective encryption employs keys whose length is the same as or longer than the data.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Compression can be obtained once a match of two or more bytes in length is found within the history.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The guide rails are available in 16 lengths, ranging from 400 mm to 3000 mm.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The raw data is partitioned into either fixed-length segments or variable-length segments.

    Academic text (1998)

Synonyms

size
vslength
∞ 1.0

How big something is, for example clothes or shoes

refers instead to a numeric count of elements in sequences
len
vslength
  • Specialized
1 8.0

A function in a program that gives the number of items in a list or string

is used as a named property exposing that same count in computing

Idioms

at length
47 4.1

For a long time and in great detail, especially when speaking or writing

at arm's length
9 4.8

Keep a distance from someone to avoid getting too close or involved

short of a length
7.5

Not long enough to reach what is needed

Compounds

full-length
28 3.4

Not shortened, showing the whole film or dress

arm's length
  • Informal
21 4.5

A safe distance from someone to avoid being close or involved

focal length
  • Specialized
7 5.5

The distance from a lens to the point where parallel light rays meet

knee-length
3 2.9

Long enough to reach the knee, like a dress or coat

book-length
1 4.1

About the same length as a normal book

length of service
1 3.9

The time someone has worked for a company or in a job there

body length
1 2.1

The distance from the head to the feet or tail of a living thing

cable's length
  • Specialized
1 8.3

A distance at sea equal to about 185 meters

cable length
  • Specialized
6.3

A sea distance equal to one tenth of a nautical mile, about 185 meters

half-length
6.2

A picture or photo showing a person from the waist up

half-length
5.6

Made half as long as the original

How Long

longness
6.8
length
  • Specialized
15 3.6

Surface Forms

length singular
lengths plural

Morphology

length = long (transparent) = long + th

Used in technical contexts to denote the measure (e.g., number of elements); the relation to 'long' as a measure is direct and productive.

Etymology

Length in computing keeps the old idea of 'how long' but counts items instead of distance, so the length of a list or string tells you how many elements or characters it has.