measure

1 an action planned or taken to achieve a desired result <such new security measures as metal detectors at all the entrances> Synonyms expedient, means, move, shift, step Related Words act, action, deed, doing, feat, thing; course, procedure, proceeding, process; accomplishment, achievement, attainment, coup, exploit, success, triumph; activity, affair, business, dealing, enterprise, event; attempt, crack, endeavor, essay, fling, go, initiative, operation, pass, shot, stab, trial, try, undertaking, whack; effort, exertion, labor, pains, trouble, while, work; project, proposal, proposition; makeshift, resort, resource, stopgap; countermeasure, countermove, counterstep

2 a given or particular mass or aggregate of matter <each day prisoners were given only a small measure of rice to live on> Synonyms amount, quantity, quantum, volumeRelated Words coefficient, degree; body, portion; many, number

3 something set up as an example against which others of the same type are compared <during the Renaissance, man came to be viewed as the measure of all things> Synonyms bar, barometer, benchmark, criterion, gold standard, grade, mark, standard, metric, par, touchstone, yardstickRelated Words case, example, instance; average, norm, rule; acme, apex, meridian, peak, pinnacle, summit, zenithNear Antonyms aberration, abnormality, deviation

4 the recurrent pattern formed by a series of sounds having a regular rise and fall in intensity <the song's soft, soothing measures make it a good lullaby> Synonyms beat, cadence, rhythm, meterRelated Words accent, accentuation, emphasis, stress; backbeat; drum, throb; lilt, movement, sway, swing; hexameter, pentameter, tetrameter, trimeter

5 the total amount of measurable space or surface occupied by something <a slipcover for the couch that was made to measure> Synonyms bulk, dimension, extent, magnitude, {h,1}size, measurement, proportionRelated Words area; capaciousness, commodiousness, roominess, spaciousness; ampleness, amplitude, bigness, bulkiness, enormousness, grandness, greatness, grossness, heftiness, hugeness, immenseness, immensity, largeness, mass, massiveness, monstrousness, stupendousness, tremendousness, vastness, volume, voluminousness