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measure

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A prescribed quantity or extent.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

mehzher

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmɛʒɚ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A prescribed quantity or extent.

  2. A limit that cannot be exceeded; a bound. (Now chiefly in set phrases.)

  3. An (unspecified) portion or quantity.

  4. The act or result of measuring.

  5. A standard against which something can be judged; a criterion.

  6. The size of someone or something, as ascertained by measuring. (Now chiefly in make to measure.)

verb

  1. To ascertain the quantity of a unit of material via calculated comparison with respect to a standard.

  2. To estimate the unit size of something.

  3. often with out or off

    To allot or distribute by measure; to set off or apart by measure; often with.

  4. To obtain or set apart; to mark in even increments.

  5. transitive

    To regulate or control (one's actions, speech, etc.), as if one were carefully measuring their length or quantity.

  6. To adjust by a rule or standard.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A prescribed quantity or extent.

Used this way, measure is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use measure

  • “The situation called for strong measures.”noun
  • “This table surfaces measures 20inches by 36 inches.”verb
  • “Measure the length of the wall.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Prescribed

large measuresmall measure

Unspecified

some measure

Other combinations

great measuregood measurefull measure

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • measuredadjectiveInflected form

    Having notes of fixed rhythmic value.

  • measuringnounInflected form

    The act or process of assigning numbers to phenomena according to a rule.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • measurementnounDerived noun

    The act or process of assigning numbers to phenomena according to a rule.

  • measurableadjectiveDerived adjective

    Capable of being measured.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • measure upverbCompound term

    Prove capable or fit.

  • measure outverbCompound term

    Determine the measurements of something or somebody, take measurements of.

  • measuring blocknounCompound term

    A unit of measurement.

  • measuring cupnounCompound term

    Graduated cup used to measure liquid or granular ingredients.

  • measuring devicenounCompound term

    Instrument that shows the extent or amount or quantity or degree of something.

  • measuring instrumentnounCompound term

    Instrument that shows the extent or amount or quantity or degree of something.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • standard of measurementnounRelated term

    Accepted or approved instance or example of a quantity or quality against which others are judged or measured or compared.

  • system of measurementnounRelated term

    A system of related measures that facilitates the quantification of some particular characteristic.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: prescribed quantity or extent

measurement

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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.