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microsecond

[mahy-kruh-sek-uh nd]
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noun
  1. a unit of time equal to one millionth of a second. Symbol: μsec
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Origin of microsecond

First recorded in 1905–10; micro- + second2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

millisecondnanosecondflashheartbeatinstantjiffymomenttwinklingmicrosecond

Examples from the Web for microsecond

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Microsecond by slow microsecond the Vangs grew and grew and grew.

    Masters of Space

    Edward Elmer Smith

  • No chart can keep up to the microsecond on these asteroid movements.

    Eight Keys to Eden

    Mark Irvin Clifton

  • Icarus will be within the star only a matter of a microsecond.

    The Variable Man

    Philip K. Dick

  • Force of a hydrogen bomb—forty thousand innocent people gone in a microsecond.

  • Within its certain, limited timing-capacity, it could establish or break a contact within the thousandth of a microsecond.

    Talents, Incorporated

    William Fitzgerald Jenkins

British Dictionary definitions for microsecond

microsecond

noun
  1. one millionth of a secondSymbol: μs
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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

Word Origin and History for microsecond

n.

1906, from micro- + second (n.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
microsecond in Science

microsecond

[mī′krō-sĕk′ənd]
  1. A unit of time equal to one millionth (10-6) of a second.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.