Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A measure of spatial extent, especially width, height, or length.
- noun Extent or magnitude; scope.
- noun Aspect; element.
- noun The least number of independent coordinates required to specify uniquely the points in a space.
- noun The range of such a coordinate.
- noun Physics A physical property, such as mass, length, time, or a combination thereof, regarded as a fundamental measure or as one of a set of fundamental measures of a physical quantity.
- transitive verb To cut or shape to specified dimensions.
- transitive verb To mark with specified dimensions.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Magnitude measured along a diameter; the measure through a body or closed figure along one of its principal axes; length, breadth, or thickness.
- noun Hence A mode of linear magnitude involved (generally along with others) in the quantity to which it belongs.
- noun Bulk; size; extent or capacity: commonly in the plural: as, the question is assuming great dimensions.
- noun That which has extension; matter; especially, the human body and its organs: so often in the plural.
- To measure the dimensions of; proportion.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Measure in a single line, as length, breadth, height, thickness, or circumference; extension; measurement; -- usually, in the plural, measure in length and breadth, or in length, breadth, and thickness; extent; size
- noun extension that has length but no breadth or thickness; a straight or curved line.
- noun extension which has length and breadth, but no thickness; a plane or curved surface.
- noun extension which has length, breadth, and thickness; a solid.
- noun as imaginary kind of extension, which is assumed to have length, breadth, thickness, and also a fourth imaginary dimension. Space of five or six, or more dimensions is also sometimes assumed in mathematics.
- noun Extent; reach; scope; importance.
- noun (Math.) The degree of manifoldness of a quantity
- noun (Alg.) A literal factor, as numbered in characterizing a term. The term
dimensions forms with the cardinal numbers a phrase equivalent todegree with the ordinal; thus, a2b2c is a term of fivedimensions , or of the fifth degree. - noun (Phys.) The manifoldness with which the fundamental units of time, length, and mass are involved in determining the units of other physical quantities.
- noun (Carp.) lumber for building, etc., cut to the sizes usually in demand, or to special sizes as ordered.
- noun stone delivered from the quarry rough, but brought to such sizes as are requisite for cutting to dimensions given.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A single
aspect of a given thing. - noun A
measure ofspatial extent in a particular direction, such asheight ,width orbreadth , ordepth . - noun A construct whereby objects or individuals can be distinguished.
- noun geometry The number of
independent coordinates needed tospecify uniquely the location of apoint in aspace ; also, any of such independent coordinates. - noun linear algebra The number of elements of any
basis of avector space . - noun physics One of the
physical properties that are regarded asfundamental measures of a physical quantity, such asmass ,length andtime . - noun computing Any of the independent ranges of
indices in amultidimensional array . - noun science fiction, fantasy An alternative universe or plane of existence.
- verb transitive To
mark ,cut orshape something to specified dimensions.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a construct whereby objects or individuals can be distinguished
- noun one of three Cartesian coordinates that determine a position in space
- noun magnitude or extent
- verb indicate the dimensions on
- verb shape or form to required dimensions
- noun the magnitude of something in a particular direction (especially length or width or height)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word dimension.
Examples
-
But because human minds and societies can improve things over time, and compound that improvement in virtuous circles, the future in this dimension is a gain.
Boing Boing 2008
-
The use of telegraph wires and train tracks, cattle cars etc to suggest shifts in distance and dimension is particularly skillful.
-
Nevertheless, the marketing imperative “means that the progressive and ethical dimension is all too often undermined by the perceived need to sanitize content”, as John Gray (2002) points out.
-
The third basically unknown dimension is how hard Secretary of State Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage labored to ameliorate the GITMO situation from almost dayone.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Andrew McCarthy Sticks to His Guns (And He May Be Pointing Them at You Next) 2010
-
Nevertheless, the marketing imperative “means that the progressive and ethical dimension is all too often undermined by the perceived need to sanitize content”, as John Gray (2002) points out.
-
It would just mean that one dimension is redundant.
Matthew Yglesias » Is The Universe a Hologram? Should We Care? 2010
-
The primary dimension is the basic issue of the role of the government in the economy, in modern terms liberal-moderate-conservative.
The Volokh Conspiracy » 13 States File Suit Against Health Care Reform 2010
-
In any cases I honesty thing the aesthetic dimension is a great motivator.
-
"The ecclesial, communional, hierarchical and doctrinal dimension is absolutely indispensable for any authentic mission, and this alone guarantees its spiritual effectiveness", he said.
The Pope on the Correct Reading of the Council and Avoiding Discontinuity 2009
-
They are microscopic in dimension - about the width of a human hair - and can be made in a range of sizes to view different-sized objects.
Friday sleigh 2009
mollusque commented on the word dimension
Criterion: criteria :: dimension : dimensia
January 5, 2009
guitar commented on the word dimension
Measurment of a size of a thing
July 8, 2014