length
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(lĕngkth, lĕngth, lĕnth) 
n.
n.
- The state, quality, or fact of being long. See Usage Note at strength.
- The measurement of the extent of something along its greatest dimension: the length of the boat.
- A piece, often of a standard size, that is normally measured along its greatest dimension: a length of cloth.
- A measure used as a unit to estimate distances: won the race by a length.
- Extent or distance from beginning to end: the length of a novel; the length of a journey.
- The amount of time between specified moments; the duration: the length of a meeting.
- Extent or degree to which an action or policy is carried. Often used in the plural: went to great lengths to prove his point.
- Linguistics.
- The duration of a vowel.
- The duration of a syllable.
- The vertical extent of a garment. Often used in combination: knee-length; floor-length.
at length
- After some time; eventually: At length we arrived at our destination.
- For a considerable time; fully: spoke at length about the court ruling.
[Middle English, from Old English lengthu.]
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should be pronounced with the g fully articulated, not as in tenth.
| lend, leisure, legitimate, legitimize | |
| lengthways, lengthwise, lese-majesty, less |
A one-dimensional extension in space. Length is one of the three fundamental physical quantities, the others being mass and time. It can be measured by comparison with an arbitrary standard; the specific one in most common usage is the international meter. In 1983, at the meeting of the Conférence Général des Poids et Mésures, the meter was redefined in terms of time and the speed of light: “The meter is the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.” This definition defines the speed of light to be exactly 299 792 458 m/s, and defines the meter in terms of the most accurately known quantity, the second. See also Light; Mass.
Roget's Thesaurus:
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length
noun
- The measure of how far or long something goes in space, time, or degree: extent, reach, span, stretch. See big/small/amount.
- An extent, measured or unmeasured, of linear space: distance, space, stretch. Informal piece, way. See big/small/amount.
- The ultimate point to which an action, thought, discussion, or policy is carried: end, extreme, limit. See limited/unlimited.
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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length
n
Definition: extent of object, distance, time
Antonyms: brevity, conciseness, height
A linear measurement of an object, end-to-end; it is usually the longest dimension. The SI unit of length is the metre.
Word Tutor:
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length
IN BRIEF: A section of something that is long and narrow. Also: The extent of something from beginning to end.
The length of your education is less important than its breadth, and the length of your life is less important than its depth.
— Marilyn vos Savant
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Sign Language Videos:
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length
sign description: One finger starts at the tip of the opposite finger and then moves outward.
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symbol: l or L; a scalar physical quantity indicating linear extent; one of the seven SI base physical quantities. The SI base unit of length is the metre.
| legumin, legumain, leghemoglobin | |
| lens, lenticular, lentinan |
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An expression of the longest dimension of an object, or of the measurement between its two ends.
- crown–heel l. — the distance from the crown of the head to the heel in embryos, fetuses and neonates.
- crown–rump l. — the distance from the crown of the head to the point of attachment of the tail.
Mosby's Dental Dictionary:
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length
n
The longest measure of an object, or the measurement between the two ends.
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'length'
- Principles of Mechanics, Waves, and Measurement - length: distance between two points
- Horse and Dog Racing
- Dimensions and Directions - length: longest linear extent or dimension of object
See crossword solutions for the clue Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Length
"Width" redirects here. For technical meanings of width in mathematics, see Width (disambiguation).
For other uses, see Length (disambiguation).
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010) |
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Look up length, width, breadth, or thickness in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
In geometric measurements, length most commonly refers to the longest dimension of an object.[1]
In certain contexts, the term "length" is reserved for a certain dimension of an object along which the length is measured. For example it is possible to cut a length of a wire which is shorter than wire thickness. Another example is FET transistors, in which the channel width may be larger than channel length.
Length may be distinguished from height, which is vertical extent, and width or breadth, which are the distance from side to side, measuring across the object at right angles to the length.
Length is a measure of one dimension, whereas area is a measure of two dimensions (length squared) and volume is a measure of three dimensions (length cubed). In most systems of measurement, the unit of length is a fundamental unit, from which other units are defined.
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Contents
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History
[2] Measurement has been important ever since man settled from his nomadic lifestyle and started using building materials; occupying land and trading with his neighbours. As society has become more technologically oriented much higher accuracies of measurement are required in an increasingly diverse set of fields, from micro-electronics to interplanetary ranging.
One of the oldest units of length measurement used in the ancient world was the 'cubit' which was the length of the arm from the tip of the finger to the elbow. This could then be subdivided into shorter units like the foot, hand (which at 4 inches is still used today for expressing the height of horses) or finger, or added together to make longer units like the stride. The cubit could vary considerably due to the different sizes of people.
After Albert Einstein's Special Relativity, length can no longer be thought of being constant in all reference frames. Thus a ruler that is one meter long in one frame of reference will not be one meter long in a reference frame that is travelling at a velocity relative to the first frame. This means length of an object is variable depending on the observer.
Units
In the physical sciences and engineering, when one speaks of "units of length", the word "length" is synonymous with "distance". There are several units that are used to measure length. Units of length may be based on lengths of human body parts, the distance travelled in a number of paces, the distance between landmarks or places on the Earth, or arbitrarily on the length of some fixed object.
In the International System of Units (SI), the basic unit of length is the meter and is now defined in terms of the speed of light. The centimeter and the kilometer, derived from the meter, are also commonly used units. In U.S. customary units, English or Imperial system of units, commonly used units of length are the inch, the foot, the yard, and the mile.
Units used to denote distances in the vastness of space, as in astronomy, are much longer than those typically used on Earth and include the astronomical unit, the light-year, and the parsec.
See also
References
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Length
Dansk (Danish)
n. - længde, varighed, strækning, stykke
idioms:
- at length langt om længe, udførligt arbejde, længe
- go to great lengths strække sig meget langt, strække sig vidt
- length of time så længe det skal være
Nederlands (Dutch)
lengte, afstand, bepaald/lang stuk, tijdsduur, traject
Français (French)
n. - longueur, long, durée, métrage, morceau, tronçon
idioms:
- at length longuement, finalement
- go to great lengths se donner énormément de mal (pour faire qch)
- length of time intervalle de temps, beaucoup de temps, temps infini
Deutsch (German)
n. - Länge, Stück
idioms:
- at length lange, ausführlich, schließlich
- go to great lengths alles mögliche tun
- length of time (Zeit)länge
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μήκος, μάκρος, (χρονική) διάρκεια, μάκρος, κομμάτι (για ύφασμα)
idioms:
- at length διεξοδικώς, εν εκτάσει
- go to great lengths φτάνω στα άκρα
- length of time χρονική διάρκεια
Italiano (Italian)
lunghezza, durata
idioms:
- at length dettagliatamente
- go to great length darsi da fare per
Português (Portuguese)
n. - comprimento, extensão, duração
idioms:
- at length por fim
- go to great length esforçar-se
- length of time período de tempo
Русский (Russian)
длина, расстояние, продолжительность, отрезок
idioms:
- at length подробно, в конце концов
- go to great length не останавливаться ни перед чем
- length of time отрезок времени
Español (Spanish)
n. - largo, longitud, duración, espacio, extensión, corte, tramo
idioms:
- at length por fin, finalmente, con todo detalle
- go to great lengths hacer un gran esfuerzo, estar preparado para hacer cualquier cosa
- length of time lapso
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - längd, varaktighet, långvarighet, sträcka, utsträckning, (kricket) avstånd till bollens nedslag, rätt avstånd
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
长度, 全长, 长短, 期间, 全程
idioms:
- at length 最后, 详细地
- go to great lengths 竭尽全力
- length of time 一段时间, 时间, 期间
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 長度, 全長, 長短, 期間, 全程
idioms:
- at length 最後, 詳細地
- go to great lengths 竭盡全力
- length of time 一段時間, 時間, 期間
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 길이, 키, 기간 , 거리
idioms:
- at length 충분히, 드디어
- go to great lengths 무슨 짓이라도 하다, 노고를 아끼지 않다
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 長さ, 期間, 一馬身, 一艇身, 単位となる長さ, 距離
idioms:
- at arm's length 腕を伸ばした距離に, 少し離れて
- at length 十分に, ついに, 詳細に, くどくどと
- length of time 時間
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) طول, مدة, مسافه, حد, امتداد
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - אורך, תקופה, משך-זמן, חתיכת חבל, חתיכה, אורך הסירה
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