noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A device used to measure distance very precisely but within a limited range, especially depth, thickness, and diameter.
2. 2
   US spelling of micrometre (“one-millionth of a metre”). US, alt-of
3. 3
   caliper for measuring small distances wordnet
4. 4
   a metric unit of length equal to one millionth of a meter wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

microncompassdirection findergaugeinstrumentmicrometer caliper

Example

More examples

"You'll need a micrometer to measure the change in length."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From French micromètre.

Etymology 2

From micro- (“one millionth”) + meter.

Related phrases

ocular micrometerstage micrometer

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.