absolute magnitude

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noun Astronomy.

the magnitude of a star as it would appear to a hypothetical observer at a distance of 10 parsecs or 32.6 light-years.

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Compare apparent magnitude.

Origin of absolute magnitude

First recorded in 1900–05

Words nearby absolute magnitude

absolute impediment, absolute judgment, absolute leukocytosis, absolutely, absolutely convergent, absolute magnitude, absolute majority, absolute maximum, absolute minimum, absolute monarchy, absolute music

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use absolute magnitude in a sentence

They are to face oppression with humble persistence and absolute conviction.
Mexico’s Priests Are Marked for Murder|Jason McGahan|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
House rules require an absolute majority of members voting to choose a speaker.
Kamikaze Congress Prepares to Strike Boehner|Ben Jacobs|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Absent a body, no one can say with absolute certainty whether Castro is dead, even if all signs point in that direction.
An Informant, a Missing American, and Juarez’s House of Death: Inside the 12-Year Cold Case of David Castro|Bill Conroy|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
And this song is just absolute genius and totally universal.
Yes, I Like Christmas Music. Stop Laughing.|Michael Tomasky|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST

You have to risk it, and be in danger of looking like an absolute fool.
The Brit Who Stormed Broadway|Tim Teeman|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Solely over one man therein thou hast quite absolute control.
Pearls of Thought|Maturin M. Ballou
Marriage is like Mayonnaise sauce, either a great success or an absolute and entire failure.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
He was greeted by hoots and jeers, but with absolute imperturbability he reorganised his forces and checked the enemy.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison
Never did events of the utmost magnitude hinge on incidents so trivial to the community at large.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
It is evident that an absolute increase of any variety may be accompanied by a relative decrease.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for absolute magnitude

absolute magnitude

noun

the apparent magnitude a given star would have if it were situated at a distance of 10 parsecs (32.6 light years) from the earth

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for absolute magnitude

absolute magnitude

See under at magnitude.