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Definition of "micrometer" [mi•crom•e•ter]

  • A device for measuring very small distances, objects, or angles, especially one based on the rotation of a finely threaded screw, as in relation to a microscope. (noun)
  • A unit of length equal to one thousandth (10-3) of a millimeter or one millionth (10-6)of a meter. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "micrometer" in a sentence
  • "In 2001 Japanese scientists made a tiny sculpture of a bull that measured 10 micrometers by seven (a micrometer is one-thousandth of a millimeter)."
  • "The word micrometer now seems to be used only to refer to the instrument for measurement, the former usage MIcrometer now being supplanted by the word micron."
  • "This is done by submitting exactly similar cylinders of lead to a crushing under weights acting without initial velocity, and measuring the reduced heights of the cylinders; from these results a table is constructed establishing empirical relations between the reduced heights and the corresponding weights; the cylinders are measured both before and after insertion in the pressure gauge by means of an instrument known as the micrometer calipers (Fig. 57). ["