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Glite Dictionary
microsecond

microsecond

11 3.6
A very short time equal to one millionth of a second
  • noun
  • /ˈmaɪkroʊˌsɛkənd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : microsegundo
  • "I'll think about it," said Bob, "for maybe a microsecond."
  • few microseconds
  • 10 microseconds
  • 100 microseconds

And it sort of it's all in microseconds now.

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Examples

  • The magnet produces 100 to 220 T in a pulse that lasts less than 10 microseconds.

    Academic text (1994)

  • If you're BASE jumping in a wingsuit off the side of a mountain and you have a microsecond of lost attention, you're dead.

    Chris Williamson

  • You react in a microsecond without thinking.

    True Lies (1994)

  • Hey, I wasn't worried for a microsecond.

    The Transformers: The Movie (1986)

  • It will be repeatable, you know, down to the microsecond or lower.

  • The electricity for the event will discharge from a capacitor in a matter of microseconds.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Rockwell says the module can distinguish among events that occur within 100 microseconds of each other.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Pulse repetition rate and width were fixed at 50 pulses/s and 250 microseconds, respectively.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Experiments have now attained lifetimes for such "indirect excitons" on the order of microseconds, much longer than the typical thermalization times.

    Academic text (2004)

  • With modern technology, data can be processed in a microsecond, enabling instant communication.

How Short

picosecond
  • Specialized
1 8.0
nanosecond
  • Specialized
20 4.5
microsecond
  • Specialized
11 3.6
millisecond
26 2.5
second
  • Specialized
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

microsecond singular
microseconds plural

Morphology

microsecond = second (transparent) = micro + second

The meaning is directly compositional: 'micro-' means one millionth and 'second' is a unit of time.

Etymology

The word microsecond begins with micro-, a Greek part that means 'small' and that you see in microscope and microphone, and it ends with second, the name for a unit of time. Put together, it means a very short time, 'one millionth' of a second, so scientists use it to measure very fast events.