figure of merit
1
7.7
- noun
- Specialized
:
figura de mérito
- The figure of merit for this new engine design shows significantly improved fuel efficiency.
But if you if you're your figure of merit is avoiding malnutrition when you have negative weather variants, we do a very, very bad job of it.
- But if you if you're your figure of merit is avoiding malnutrition when you have negative weather variants, we do a very, very bad job of it.
Examples
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The figure of merit for solar cell performance is the conversion efficiency Eta, defined as
Academic text (1993) -
The figure of merit of optical and near-infrared detectors—a product of solid angle and sensitivity—has been improving very rapidly.
Academic text (2000) -
The group is currently working to improve that figure of merit.
Academic text (2004) -
But why is the number of surviving artifacts a figure of merit?
Blog text (28) -
Motion Tech also includes several figures of merit, which it calculates based on its online data.
Academic text (2006) -
For this figure of merit as well, there is not much variation among the four skimmers.
Blog text (10) -
A primary figure of merit of the efficiency of a pressure-resistant diving structure is its weight-to-displacement ratio as a function of selected geometry and material.
Academic text (1993) -
They can assign to experiments a figure of merit that depends on the experimental sensitivity to the Lorentz-violating effects.
Academic text (2004) -
In addition to expressing the distortion as a function of frequency, there is a need for a single figure of merit to indicate the overall effect of the distortion on intelligibility.
Academic text (1990) -
The figure of merit used in the broadband distortion measurement is a weighted SDR, computed using a procedure similar to that of the Articulation Index (10, 15).
Academic text (1990)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the parts: 'figure' (a numeric value) + 'of' + 'merit' (worth or quality) yields 'a number that expresses worth/effectiveness'. This is a regular noun-of-noun compositional pattern common across languages and in technical register, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would understand the MWE.
Etymology
The phrase figure of merit comes from the simple idea that a figure is a number and merit means worth, like a judge giving a score to compare items. So it means 'a number that shows how efficient or good something is'.