odometer

noun

odom·​e·​ter ō-ˈdä-mə-tər 

: an instrument for measuring the distance traveled (as by a vehicle)

Did you know?

Odometer includes the root from the Greek word hodos, meaning "road" or "trip". An odometer shares space on your dashboard with a speedometer, a tachometer, and maybe a "tripmeter". The odometer is what crooked car salesmen tamper with when they want to reduce the mileage a car registers as having traveled. One of life's little pleasures is watching the odometer as all the numbers change at the same time.

Examples of odometer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Ford said the vehicle has 8,435 miles on the odometer because journalists have driven it over the years. —Jamie L. Lareau, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025

Ford said the vehicle has 8,435 miles on the odometer because journalists have driven it over the years. —Jamie L. Lareau, Freep.com, 13 Oct. 2025

Age and mileage limits Omega Auto Care accepts vehicles that are under 15 years old or that have under 250,000 miles on the odometer. —Brian Sloan, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2025

Some 43,478 kilometers are on the odometer, and the car has also been serviced a lot in recent years, including an engine-out service and replacement of the timing belts. —Erik Shilling, Robb Report, 6 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

French odomètre, from Greek hodometron, from hodos way, road + metron measure — more at measure

First Known Use

1791, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for odometer

• barometer
• bolometer
• chronometer
• geometer
• hydrometer
• hygrometer
• kilometer
• micrometer
• photometer
• psychrometer
• pycnometer
• pyrometer

Kids Definition

odometer

noun

odom·​e·​ter ō-ˈdäm-ət-ər 

: an instrument for measuring distance traveled (as by a vehicle)