Chronometer
//krə(ʊ)ˈnɒmɪtər// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A device for measuring time, particularly a precision mechanism for measuring time of day.
"A wristwatch costs $20; a chronometer costs $20,000."
- 2 an accurate clock (especially used in navigation) wordnet
Example
More examples"In the 19th century a navigator wanting to know the ship's longitude needed to know the time, which was kept on board the ship by a chronometer."
Etymology
From chrono- + -meter, possibly after the model of earlier French chronomètre (“metronome”), ultimately from Ancient Greek χρόνος (khrónos, “time”) + μέτρον (métron, “meter, measuring device”).
Related phrases
More for "chronometer"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.