logarithmic

American  

[law-guh-rith-mik, -rith-, log-uh-] / ˌlɔ gəˈrɪð mɪk, -ˈrɪθ-, ˌlɒg ə- /

Also logarithmical

adjective

Mathematics.

1. pertaining to a logarithm or logarithms.

2. (of an equation) having a logarithm as one or more of its unknowns.

3. (of a function)

   1. pertaining to the function y = log x.

   2. expressible by means of logarithms.

---

logarithmic British  

/ ˌlɒɡəˈrɪðmɪk /

adjective

1. of, relating to, using, or containing logarithms of a number or variable

2. consisting of, relating to, or using points or lines whose distances from a fixed point or line are proportional to the logarithms of numbers

---

Other Word Forms

• logarithmically adverb

Etymology

Origin of logarithmic

First recorded in 1690–1700; logarithm + -ic

Example Sentences

These phenomena fall within the domain of logarithmic conformal field theories.

From Science Daily • Dec. 16, 2025

The scale for brightness is reverse logarithmic, which means the brighter an object is, the lower its magnitude number.

From Salon • Mar. 10, 2023

But the February 6 earthquake was a 7.8—about four times bigger on the logarithmic scale of earthquake magnitudes.

From Scientific American • Feb. 22, 2023

It is a logarithmic scale: For each whole-number it rises, the amount of energy released by an earthquake increases by about 32 times.

From New York Times • Feb. 6, 2023

“If we had logarithmic tables of all the trigometric functions, you could work any problem in navigation with nothing but addition and subtraction.”

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham