micron

or mi·kron

[ mahy-kron ]

noun,plural mi·crons, mi·cra [mahy-kruh]. /ˈmaɪ krə/.
  1. Also called micrometer. the millionth part of a meter. Symbol: μ, mu

  2. Physical Chemistry. a colloidal particle whose diameter is between 0.2 and 10 microns.

  1. Physics. a very small unit of pressure, equal to that exerted by a column of mercury 1μ high.

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Origin of micron

1
1880–85; <Greek mīkrón a little, noun use of neuter singular of mīkrós small; see -on1

Words Nearby micron

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use micron in a sentence

  • The man who studies bacteria measures by the micron, 25,000 of which go to the inch.

    Rustic Sounds | Francis Darwin
  • This unit is the one-thousandth part of a millimeter and is called the micro-millimeter or micron.

    The Fundamentals of Bacteriology | Charles Bradfield Morrey
  • For a moment they saw with a spectrum that reached from the star-wide waves of novas to the micro-micron skittering of neutrinos.

    Captives of the Flame | Samuel R. Delany
  • But with the destruction of the planet an almost certainty, the collective nervous system was just one micron away from explosion.

    Alien Offer | Al Sevcik

British Dictionary definitions for micron

micron

/ (ˈmaɪkrɒn) /


nounplural -crons or -cra (-krə)
  1. a unit of length equal to 10 –6 metre. It is being replaced by the micrometre, the equivalent SI unit

Origin of micron

1
C19: New Latin, from Greek mikros small

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for micron

micron

[ krŏn′ ]


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.