magnetometer
Americannoun
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an instrument for measuring the intensity of a magnetic field, especially the earth's magnetic field.
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an instrument for detecting the presence of ferrous or magnetic materials, especially one used to detect concealed weapons at airports.
noun
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An instrument for measuring the magnitude and direction of a magnetic field. Magnetometers are often used in archaeological and geological investigations to determine the intensity and direction of the Earth's magnetic field at various times in the past by examining the strength and direction of magnetization of ferromagnetic materials in different geological strata.
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See also magnetic reversal
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of magnetometer
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.
Attendees pointed out that there was a magnetometer placed outside the ballroom, but there was no such screening before that or at the entrance to the hotel itself.
From Barron's ● Apr. 26, 2026
The Q-CTRL device on the plane in Griffith, a city of about 27,000, is called an optically pumped magnetometer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
Deep Sea Vision had first put to sea in September 2023 from Papua New Guinea, launching a $9-million Hugin 6000 submersible equipped with a Doppler, a magnetometer, an echo sounder and a side-scan sonar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2024
“The source is like a piston,” says Adam Szabo, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and principal investigator for the magnetometer.
From Science Magazine ● May 23, 2024
Anyone who came in after we did would have to get swept with a magnetometer wand by a Secret Service team, a process that was usually quick but still an inconvenience.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
