kilometer
noun
How do you pronounce kilometer?: Usage Guide
In North American speech kilometer is most often pronounced with primary stress on the second syllable. This pronunciation is also heard frequently in British speech. Those who object to second syllable stress say that the first syllable should be stressed in accord with the stress patterns of centimeter, millimeter, etc. However, the pronunciation of kilometer does not parallel that of other metric compounds. From 1828 to 1841 Noah Webster indicated only second syllable stress, and his successor added a first syllable stress variant in the first Merriam-Webster dictionary of 1847. Thus, both pronunciations are venerable. Most scientists use second syllable stress, although first syllable stress seems to occur with a higher rate of frequency among scientists than among nonscientists.
Did you know?
A kilometer is equal to about 62/100 of a mile, and a mile is equal to about 1.61 kilometers. The U.S. has been slow to adopt metric measures, which are used almost everywhere else in the world. Though our car speedometers are often marked in both miles and kilometers, the U.S. and Great Britain are practically the only developed nations that still show miles rather than kilometers on their road signs. But even in the U.S., footraces are usually measured in meters or kilometers, like the Olympic races. Runners normally abbreviate kilometer to K: "a 5K race" (3.1 miles), "the 10K run" (6.2 miles), and so on.
Examples of kilometer in a Sentence
ABC News, 13 June 2026
Unlike solar flares, which travel at light speed, CMEs move at up to 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) per second and take a few days to travel across the solar system.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 13 June 2026
He was born 10 kilometers away from where I was born.
—Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 13 June 2026
More than four years since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line has remained largely static as swarms of drones hinder advances.
—CBS News, 13 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for kilometer
Cite this Entry
“Kilometer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kilometer. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
kilometer
noun
kil-ˈäm-
Medical Definition
kilometer
noun
