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Celsius

American  
[sel-see-uhs, -shee-] / ˈsɛl si əs, -ʃi- /

noun

  1. Anders 1701–44, Swedish astronomer who devised the Celsius temperature scale.


adjective

  1. Also Centigrade pertaining to or noting a temperature scale Celsius scale in which 0° represents the ice point and 100° the steam point. C

  2. Thermodynamics. of or relating to a temperature scale having the same units as the Celsius scale but in which the zero point has been shifted so that the triple point of water has the exact value 0.01°; Celsius temperatures are computed from Kelvin values by subtracting 273.15 from the latter. C

Celsius British  
/ ˈsɛlsɪəs /

adjective

  1. C. denoting a measurement on the Celsius scale

"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

Celsius 1 Scientific  
/ sĕl′sē-əs /
  1. Relating to a temperature scale on which the freezing point of water is 0° and the boiling point of water is 100° under normal atmospheric pressure.

  2. See Note at centigrade


Celsius 2 Scientific  
  1. Swedish astronomer who invented the centigrade thermometer in 1742.


Celsius 1 Cultural  
  1. A temperature scale, also called centigrade, according to which water freezes at zero degrees and boils at one hundred degrees.


Celsius 2 Cultural  
  1. A temperature scale in which zero degrees is the freezing point of water and 100 degrees is the boiling point. Temperature in this scale is generally denoted by °C or, in scientific usage, C alone. (Compare Fahrenheit (see also Fahrenheit).)


Etymology

Origin of Celsius

C18: named after Anders Celsius (1701–44), Swedish astronomer who invented it


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:

“This is what will happen to our planet at plus two degrees Celsius, plus three, plus four,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

Once this clears, many places should see sunshine developing, and across England and Wales temperatures could widely reach 18-21 Celsius.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Liquefaction plants cool natural gas down to around minus 162 degrees Celsius, which shrinks its volume by around 600 times and turns it into a liquid.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

The researchers identified a large thermal gradient, with temperatures reaching approximately 350 degrees Celsius beside the magma intrusion and falling to about 72 degrees Celsius at an ancient seafloor asphalt spill roughly 300 meters higher.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

An incubator is set way too high at thirty-seven degrees Celsius, which makes no sense for a defoliant to kill Sagan’s plant life for terra-forming.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

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