thermometer

[ ther-mom-i-ter ]

noun

1. an instrument for measuring temperature, often a sealed glass tube that contains a column of liquid, as mercury, that expands and contracts, or rises and falls, with temperature changes, the temperature being read where the top of the column coincides with a calibrated scale marked on the tube or its frame.

thermometer

/ θəˈmɒmɪtə /

noun

1. See pyrometer, thermocouple, resistance thermometer, gas thermometer, clinical thermometer
   an instrument used to measure temperature, esp one in which a thin column of liquid, such as mercury, expands and contracts within a graduated sealed tube See also clinical thermometer gas thermometer resistance thermometer thermocouple pyrometer

thermometer

/ thər-mŏm′ĭ-tər /

1. An instrument used to measure temperature. There are many types of thermometers; the most common consist of a closed, graduated glass tube in which a liquid expands or contracts as the temperature increases or decreases. Other types of thermometers work by detecting changes in the volume or pressure of an enclosed gas or by registering thermoelectric changes in a conductor (such as a thermistor or thermocouple).

Other Words From

• ther·mo·met·ric [thur-m, uh, -, me, -trik], thermo·metri·cal adjective
• thermo·metri·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of thermometer¹

First recorded in 1615–25; thermo- + -meter

Example Sentences

Look at a thermometer, and you’ll know a lot of what’s worth knowing about any sufficiently large number of molecules around you.

From Quanta Magazine

This smart meat thermometer has two sensors in its single wireless probe—one for internal temperature up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit and another for ambient temperature up to 527 degrees.

From Popular-Science

Before entering the school, students and visitors have their temperature checked with a forehead-scanning thermometer.

From Voice of San Diego

In a straightforward race down the thermometer, the hot object would first have to reach the original temperature of the warm object, suggesting that a higher temperature could only add to the cooling time.

From Science News

The department even provides thermometers, following up with cases and contacts each day to ask about their temperature and symptoms.

From Science News

Turn the heat down to 325°F and continue cooking until internal temperature reads 140°F on a thermometer.

From The Daily Beast

It's almost impossible to read the thermometer of public opinion when it comes to LaBeouf's recent melt down/revelation.

From The Daily Beast

Every time the thermometer drops, another anti-science politician mocks climate change as a fallacy.

From The Daily Beast

Most recently, in 2010, iPod creator Tony Fadell launched Nest, a smart thermometer that adjusts to your living habits.

From The Daily Beast

If you have a cooking thermometer, cook until the temperature reaches 175 degrees.

From The Daily Beast

One day in April the thermometer suddenly rose to eighteen above the freezing-point of Fahrenheit.

From Project Gutenberg

He is as sensitive to every change in ones voice as the thermometer is to changes in the atmosphere.

From Project Gutenberg

The warmth of the weather now began rapidly to increase; the thermometer at noon ranged as high as 79 degrees.

From Project Gutenberg

The thermometer now ranged between 87 and 89 degrees and the weather was consequently extremely oppressive and sultry.

From Project Gutenberg

The weather very cold, though the thermometer is at 56°, barometer 29–08; a very heavy swell.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• instrument
• thermostat