centimeter
Americannoun
-
centimeters
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of centimeter
From the French word centimètre, dating back to 1795–1805. See centi-, meter 1
Explanation
In the metric system, a centimeter is a unit of measurement that's about one-third the size of an inch. There are approximately 30 centimeters in a foot. The word centimeter comes from the French centimètre, a combination of the Latin word for "hundred," centum, and the French mètre. A centimeter is one hundredth of a meter—in other words, there are one hundred centimeters in one meter. In just about every part of the world besides the U.S., this word is spelled centimetre.
Vocabulary lists containing centimeter
Measurement and Data
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: cent
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: meter, metr
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The researchers calculated a very low carrier density of approximately 1016 per cubic centimeter.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 5, 2026
They grow about a centimeter or two a year and by sampling cores at the millimeter scale, the team was able to develop windows of monthly temperature records scattered across the past millennium.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
Jupiter, by comparison, has an average density of 1.33 grams per cubic centimeter, making it roughly 28 to 35 times denser than these newly discovered worlds.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 27, 2026
Veradermics also assessed hair count per square centimeter, finding that both dosing regimens increased hair count by at least 30 hairs per square centimeter, compared with 7.3 hairs per square centimeter for the placebo group.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 27, 2026
Everywhere I looked, every centimeter of floor space, was occupied.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
Air regulations ban all blades with sharp points and typically blunt knives longer than six centimeters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Flooding can range from centimeters to several meters, while fast currents can exert forces equivalent to several tons per square meter against coastal structures.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026
"After all, our chips are only 2 centimeters across. But, in reality, there are a lot of applications where this would be very powerful," he says.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
The water level there is expected to drop below 20 centimeters from the second half of this week, the German Waterways and Shipping Administration said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
The bricks were fashioned out of grass and clay, which was pressed into a wooden mold about seventy-five centimeters long.
From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
