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

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

The unit of volume for the purposes of the market is the liter, which is the volume of one kilogram of distilled water at its maximum density and is intended to be one cubic decimeter.

From The Style Book of The Detroit News by News, The Detroit

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 unit adopted for square measure was the are, equal to 100 square meters; for solid measure, the stère, equal to one cubic meter; and for measure of capacity, the litre, a cubic decimeter.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 437 Volume 17, New Series, May 15, 1852 by Chambers, William