Entry Word: measure

Function: noun

Meaning: 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, deed, doing, feat, thing; procedure, proceeding, process; accomplishment, achievement, exploit; activity, affair, business, dealing, enterprise, event; attempt, endeavor, essay, initiative, operation, undertaking; effort, exertion, labor, pains, trouble, work; project, proposal, proposition; makeshift, resort, resource, stopgap

2 a given or particular mass or aggregate of matter <each day prisoners were given only a small measure of rice to live on> — see amount
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> — see standard 1
4 the recurrent pattern formed by a series of sounds having a regular rise and fall in intensity <the songʼs soft, soothing measures make it a good lullaby> — see rhythm
5 the total amount of measurable space or surface occupied by something <a slipcover for the couch made to measure> — see ¹size