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 2

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meter ² 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 ³ British  

/ ˈmiːtə /

noun

1. the US spelling of metre 1

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-meter ⁴ 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 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

Previously, it regularly reached waters about 20 meters deep, a feature that set it apart from other Arctic regions where landfast ice had already retreated.

From Science Daily

The later eruption likely covered much of the North Island in meters of ash.

From Science Daily

Claude’s meter also runs faster based on the length of your conversation, meaning new users who upload long documents may be surprised to reach their limit faster than they’re used to with ChatGPT.

From MarketWatch

"Somehow they are metering their intake, so maybe zero to 1% is a more likely concentration that they would find in the wild than anything higher," he said.

From Science Daily

Immigrant rights advocates sued, contending the metering policy was illegal.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• feet