calculator
Americannoun
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a person who calculates or computes.
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Also called calculating machine. a small electronic or mechanical device that performs calculations, requiring manual action for each individual operation.
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a person who operates such a machine.
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a set of tables that facilitates calculation.
noun
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a device for performing mathematical calculations, esp an electronic device that can be held in the hand
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a person or thing that calculates
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a set of tables used as an aid to calculations
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of calculator
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin; see calculate, -tor
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:
If you use a simple savings-distribution calculator, which computes spending withdrawals at the same time as balance growth, you could comfortably spend about $250,000 a year for the next 10 years and still have excess.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
One student-loan calculator estimated monthly payments could be $900.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Researchers at the University of Oxford have created a new calculator that estimates a person's individual risk of developing serious muscle disorders while taking statins.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 30, 2026
Instead, Lodge, who goes by Cabot, picked up an HP-12C financial calculator and never looked back, perhaps with an eye to resurrecting the family’s business bona fides.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
She knew because she'd used her calculator to figure it out last night.
From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies
Electronic calculators, for instance, may have helped users solve equations -- but left the method and reasoning process in human hands.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
The advocates were generally happy with what they heard, while also pulling out calculators to assess whether Newsom owes still more to education.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
The new machine could do tasks about 1,000 times as fast as the electromechanical calculators that preceded it, but it was unwieldy, to say the least.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
There are also retirement calculators to give you other ways to understand whether you are on track.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
"Pocket calculators are not allowed in this school anyway."
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
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.
