Also vernier scale a small, movable, graduated scale running parallel to the fixed graduated scale of a sextant, theodolite, barometer, etc., and used for measuring a fractional part of one of the divisions of the fixed scale.
Machinery. an auxiliary device for giving a piece of apparatus a higher adjustment accuracy.
a small movable scale running parallel to the main graduated scale in certain measuring instruments, such as theodolites, used to obtain a fractional reading of one of the divisions on the main scale
an auxiliary device for making a fine adjustment to an instrument, usually by means of a fine screw thread
(modifier) relating to or fitted with a vernier
a vernier scale
a vernier barometer
First recorded in 1760–70; named after P. Vernier
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Hwasong-14 had only one nozzle, and it used four vernier engines to steer the missile.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 30, 2017
Their hopes buoyed, scientists at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory planned a minor mid-course correction and ordered Surveyor's three small vernier engines to fire briefly.
From Time Magazine Archive
They were, Small vernier rockets near each of the craft's three legs fired to stabilize the spacecraft in a base-down attitude.
From Time Magazine Archive
These course corrections were made by controllable vernier rockets and slight changes of the direction in the thrust of the main engine.
From Time Magazine Archive
The position of the rod was determined by a scale fixed near the end of the arm, the arm itself carrying a vernier moving along the scale.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 4 "Grasshopper" to "Greek Language" by Various
"In creating this piece, there were at least 20,000 back-and-forth exchanges between the algorithms and the creative team," said Gauthier Vernier of Obvious.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
France began the Women's Six Nations with a 27-15 win over Ireland in Belfast despite a 20-minute red card for Gabrielle Vernier.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2025
“We are so happy to play a semifinal next week,” France captain Gabrielle Vernier said.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 29, 2022
“We're far away from people being in a mode where they're saying this is a distressed scenario,” said Michel Vernier, head of fixed income strategy at Barclays Private Bank.
From Reuters ● Oct. 12, 2022
The quadrant was about the same time improved by a method of subdividing its limbs by the diagonal scale, and by the Vernier.
From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century, By William Stevenson by William Stevenson
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.
