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millimeter

millimeter

140 2.5
A small measurement of length equal to one thousandth of a meter
  • noun
  • /ˈmɪlɪˌmiːtər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : milímetro
  • He measured the thickness of the paper in millimeters to ensure it was suitable for printing.
  • millimeters in diameter
  • millimeters thick
  • one millimeter

It might have been by millimetres, but it's, it's still a loss.

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Examples

  • And that's adding about a millimetre per year in global sea level.

  • These are magnetic micro robots, just millimeters in size.

  • Just gosh, it must be on the order of half a millimeter from the edge.

  • On top of this is a second disk just one millimeter away and it is at rest.

  • It's looks like it's just a couple of millimeters too far.

  • We are one millimetre too short.

  • The broken lines on either side are plus or minus three millimeters from the line of identity.

    Academic text (1993)
  • From what we can see, it's very aggressive, it's grown three millimeters in the past month.

  • They are mere millimetres away from impact.

  • Annual precipitation is said locally to be as low as 250 millimeters, which is probably an underestimate.

    Academic text (1993)

Synonyms

mm
vsmillimeter
160 1.0

A unit of length equal to one thousandth of a meter

is the full written form rather than the abbreviated symbol

Compounds

A very small area equal to a square one millimeter on each side

The volume of a cube with each side one millimeter long equal to one millionth of a liter

millimeter of mercury
  • Specialized
1 5.0

A unit for measuring pressure used for blood pressure and barometers

How Small

micromicron
  • Archaic
9.9
nanometer
  • Specialized
7 4.8
micrometer
  • Specialized
2 4.8
millimeter
  • Specialized
140 2.5
centimeter
  • US
92 1.0
meter
  • Specialized
621 1.0
kilometer
  • US
572 1.8

Surface Forms

millimeter singular
millimeters plural

Morphology

millimeter = meter (transparent) = milli + meter

The meaning is directly compositional: 'milli-' means one-thousandth and 'meter' is the length unit being scaled.

Etymology

Millimeter comes from milli-, from Latin mille meaning 'thousand', and meter, from Greek metron meaning 'measure'. So a millimeter is one 'thousandth' of a meter, which is why it is used for very small lengths.