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mesoscale

American

[mez-uh-skeyl, mes-, mee-zuh-, -suh-] / ˈmɛz əˌskeɪl, ˈmɛs-, ˈmi zə-, -sə- /

adjective

pertaining to meteorological phenomena, such as wind circulation and cloud patterns, that are about 1–100 km (0.6–60 miles) in horizontal extent.

Etymology

Origin of mesoscale

First recorded in 1955–60; meso- + scale ³

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.

A change in atomic alignment can generate topological structures on much larger, mesoscale distances.

From Science Daily • Mar. 2, 2026

By analyzing the GOES-16 data, Peterson found that these storms tend to be born in what scientists call a mesoscale convective system, or MCS.

From Scientific American • Jul. 5, 2023

Increasingly, researchers are developing ‘mesoscopes’ — mesoscale microscopes — to circumvent that challenge.

From Nature • Nov. 25, 2019

Sprites appear above mesoscale convective systems - storm complexes about 10 times larger.

From BBC • Apr. 6, 2018

The current state of the art in mesoscale forecasting is IBM's Blue Thunder.

From New York Times • Oct. 17, 2016

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023