centimeter

[ sen-tuh-mee-ter ]

/ ˈsɛn təˌmi tər /

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noun

one 100th of a meter, equivalent to 0.3937 inch. Abbreviations: cm, cm.

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Also especially British, cen·ti·me·tre .

Origin of centimeter

From the French word centimètre, dating back to 1795–1805. See centi-, meter¹

Words nearby centimeter

centile, centiliter, centilitre, centillion, centime, centimeter, centimeter-gram-second, centimeter-gram-second system, centimetre, centimetre-gram-second, centimo

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use centimeter in a sentence

The nurses were all coming in because they would not believe how calm and relaxed I was, and the centimeters were just going up.
Marie Mongan, champion of hypnobirthing, dies at 86|Olesia Plokhii|February 11, 2021|Washington Post
Moving at rates between 2 and 10 centimeters each year, some plates collide, some diverge and some grind past one another.
How the Earth-shaking theory of plate tectonics was born|Carolyn Gramling|January 13, 2021|Science News
A practical item with many different uses, this ruler offers both inches and centimeters and comes in a variety of sizes from 12″ to 36″ long.
The best rulers for home, office, and school|PopSci Commerce Team|January 8, 2021|Popular-Science
As astonishing as it may seem, many experimental AR cloud concepts, even entirely mapped cities, are location specific down to the centimeter.
How a Software Map of the Entire Planet Could Change the World Forever|Aaron Frank|December 27, 2020|Singularity Hub

It seems when OSIRIS-REx touched down on Bennu’s surface, the collection head went 24 to 48 centimeters deep, which would explain how it recovered so much material.
OSIRIS-REx collected too much asteroid material and now some is floating away|Neel Patel|October 23, 2020|MIT Technology Review
The daughter had also been exposed and was comatose before she and her mother each received A 250 cubic centimeter transfusion.
Infected Ebola Doctor Kent Brantly Is an Endangered Hero|Michael Daly|August 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She grew increasingly ill despite a 450 cubic centimeter transfusion and became comatose after five days.
Infected Ebola Doctor Kent Brantly Is an Endangered Hero|Michael Daly|August 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
True, this wasn't an outpost set up by Israeli settlers to prevent a centimeter of retreat from the Whole Land.
Bibi Grows a Backbone|Gershom Gorenberg|January 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
So small and so numerous are these corpuscles that over five million are found in a cubic centimeter of normal blood.
A Civic Biology|George William Hunter
One barn is equal to 10-24 square centimeter, which is approximately the cross-sectional area of a typical atomic nucleus.
The Atomic Fingerprint|Bernard Keisch
With the highest known magnifying power we could distinguish the forty-thousandth part of a centimeter.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 613, October 1, 1887|Various
As the angle of the wedge is about one tenth, the intervals between these divisions are about one centimeter.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 363, December 16, 1882|Various
Having done this, bring the goblet to within about a centimeter of the pipe stem.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 363, December 16, 1882|Various

Scientific definitions for centimeter

centimeter

[ sĕn′tə-mē′tər ]

A unit of length in the metric system equal to 0.01 meter. See Table at measurement.

Cultural definitions for centimeter

centimeter

[ (sen-tuh-mee-tuhr) ]

A unit of length in the metric system; one-hundredth of a meter, or about two-fifths of an inch.