kilogram
noun
Simple meaning
One thousand grams.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kiluhgramSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɪləɡɹæm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
proscribed
One thousand grams; the basic unit of mass adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
“A kilogram is approximately 2.2 pounds.”
In the International System of Units, the base unit of mass; conceived of as the mass of one litre of water, but now defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Planck constant h to be 6.626 070 15 × 10⁻³⁴ when expressed in units of kg⋅m²⋅s⁻¹. Symbol: kg
proscribed
The unit of weight such that a one-kilogram mass is also a one-kilogram weight.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: One thousand grams; the basic unit of mass adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
Used this way, kilogram is a rare word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is about measurement, so it is used where accuracy is the point.
“A kilogram is approximately 2.2 pounds.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Rare
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Uncommon in everyday speech
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
- Academic writing
Nearby words
- key , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use kilogram
- “A kilogram is approximately 2.2 pounds.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A unit of heat equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree at one atmosphere pressure.
A unit of work equal to the work done by a one kilogram force operating through a distance of one meter.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.