decimeter

American  

[des-uh-mee-ter] / ˈdɛs əˌmi tər /

especially British, decimetre

noun

1. a unit of length equal to 1/10 (0.1) meter. dm

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Etymology

Origin of decimeter

From the French word décimètre, dating back to 1800–10. See deci-, meter ¹

Explanation

In the metric system, a decimeter is a unit of measurement that's about the same as four inches. You can estimate the width of a decimeter by aligning four U.S. quarters horizontally. There are ten decimeters in a meter, and the word itself comes from the French deci- and the Latin decimus, "tenth." Each decimeter is one-tenth of a meter, a measurement that's common in many parts of the world although relatively unusual in the U.S. Americans also spell it differently than most metric system-users, who write decimetre.

Example Sentences

Five nickels in a row will give the length of the decimeter, and two of them will weigh a decagram.

From Reading Made Easy for Foreigners - Third Reader by Hülshof, John L.

Examine a liter measure, in the form of a cube,—cubic decimeter, —and a cubic centimeter.

From An Introduction to Chemical Science by Williams, Rufus Phillips

The centimeter is then used in the same way to step off a decimeter, which again determines the nearest whole number, the fraction being observed directly as before.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 633, February 18, 1888 by Various

By the appointed time the engineer had finished his task, and with all due care had prepared a cubic decimeter of the material of the comet.

From Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space by Verne, Jules

But the distance corresponding to 400,000 wave lengths is roughly a decimeter, and this cannot be determined or reproduced more accurately than say to one part in 500,000.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 633, February 18, 1888 by Various