meter

¹ American  

[mee-ter] / ˈmi tər /

especially British, metre

noun

1. the fundamental unit of length in the metric system, equivalent to 39.37 U.S. inches, originally intended to be, and being very nearly, equal to one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the pole measured on a meridian: defined from 1889 to 1960 as the distance between two lines on a platinum-iridium bar (the “International Prototype Meter”) preserved at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris; from 1960 to 1983 defined as 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of the orange-red radiation of krypton 86 under specified conditions; and now defined as 1/299,792,458 of the distance light travels in a vacuum in one second. m

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meter ² American  

[mee-ter] / ˈmi tər /

especially British, metre

noun

1. Music.

   1. the rhythmic element as measured by division into parts of equal time value.

   2. the unit of measurement, in terms of number of beats, adopted for a given piece of music.

2. Prosody.

   1. poetic measure; arrangement of words in regularly measured, patterned, or rhythmic lines or verses.

   2. a particular form of such arrangement, depending on either the kind or the number of feet constituting the verse or both rhythmic kind and number of feet (usually used in combination).

      pentameter; dactylic meter; iambic trimeter.

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meter ³ American  

[mee-ter] / ˈmi tər /

especially British, metre

noun

1. an instrument for measuring, especially one that automatically measures and records the quantity of something, as of gas, water, miles, or time, when it is activated.

2. parking meter.

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verb (used with object)

metered, metering

1. to measure by means of a meter.

2. to process (mail) by means of a postage meter.

-meter ⁴ American  

1. a combining form meaning “measure,” used in the names of instruments measuring quantity, extent, degree, etc..

   altimeter; barometer.

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meter ¹ British  

/ ˈmiːtə /

noun

1. the US spelling of metre 1

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-meter ² British  

combining form

1. indicating an instrument for measuring

   barometer

2. prosody indicating a verse having a specified number of feet

   pentameter

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meter ³ British  

/ ˈmiːtə /

noun

1. the US spelling of metre 2

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meter ⁴ British  

/ ˈmiːtə /

noun

1. any device that measures and records the quantity of a substance, such as gas, that has passed through it during a specified period

2. any device that measures and sometimes records an electrical or magnetic quantity, such as current, voltage, etc

3. See parking meter

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verb

1. to measure (a rate of flow) with a meter

2. to print with stamps by means of a postage meter

meter Scientific  

/ mē′tər /

1. The basic unit of length in the metric system, equal to 39.37 inches.

2. See Table at measurement

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meter ¹ Cultural  

1. The basic unit of length in the metric system; it was originally planned so that the circumference of the Earth would be measured at about forty million meters. A meter is 39.37 inches. Today, the meter is defined to be the distance light travels in 1 / 299,792,458 seconds.

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meter ² Cultural  

1. The highly organized rhythm characteristic of verse; the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. (See iambic pentameter.)

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Usage

What does -meter mean? The combining form -meter is used like a suffix meaning “measure” or "measuring instrument." It is often used in scientific and technical terms.The form -meter comes from Greek métron, meaning “measure.” Find out how métron is also the source of diameter, isometric, and metronome at our entries for these words.What are variants of -meter?While -meter doesn't have any variants, it's related to the forms -metric, -metrics, and -metry.. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for these forms.

Other Word Forms

• unmetered adjective

Etymology

Origin of meter¹

First recorded in 1790–1800; from French mètre, from Greek métron “measure”

Origin of meter²

First recorded before 900; Middle English metir, metur, Old English meter, from Latin metrum “poetic rhythm or meter, verse,” from Greek métron “measure”; replacing Middle English metre, from Middle French metre, from Latin as above

Origin of meter³

First recorded in 1805–15; mete ¹, -er ¹

Origin of -meter⁴

< New Latin -metrum < Greek métron measure

Example Sentences

He tried running the 200 meters at the Olympic trials in Oregon before the Paris Games and did so in 33 seconds, but he limped away with an injury.

From Los Angeles Times

The 21-year-old from Wisconsin had already won gold in the 500 and 1,000 meters, and a silver in the 1,500 heading into Saturday’s race.

From Los Angeles Times

In his third race, the 1,500 meters, the 21-year-old from Wisconsin didn’t get the timing quite right and had to settle for a disappointing silver in a race he was heavily favored to win.

From The Wall Street Journal

But her top marks of 11.70 seconds in the 100 meters and 23.93 in the 200 didn’t rank in the top 100 for U.S. women in 2021, her senior year at Nevada Las Vegas.

From Los Angeles Times

Their analysis shows that roughly 300 million cubic meters of magma rose from deep within the crust and stalled about four kilometers beneath the seafloor.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• feet