millisecond

noun

mil·​li·​sec·​ond ˈmi-lə-ˌse-kənd 

-kənt

: one thousandth of a second

Did you know?

A millisecond isn't long enough for the blink of an eye, but a few milliseconds may determine the winner of a swim race or a hundred-yard dash. With the ever-increasing speed of modern technology, even a millisecond has started to seem a little sluggish; computer operations are now measured in nanoseconds—that is, billionths of a second.

Examples of millisecond in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The accurate measurements allowed the team to isolate the milliseconds-long signal confidently. —Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 10 Sep. 2025

In tomorrow’s markets, milliseconds will be table stakes. —Ashok Reddy, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025

These energized states only last for a second before the electrons lose their energy and settle back into the ground state, so the calculations need to finish quickly; the sequence of steps in their simulation took only 10 to 20 milliseconds. —Shalma Wegsman, Quanta Magazine, 5 Sep. 2025

This cycle repeats itself approximately every 10 to 20 milliseconds. —New Atlas, 2 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

International Scientific Vocabulary

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for millisecond

• femtosecond
• microsecond
• nanosecond
• picosecond
• beckoned
• reckoned
• second
• seconde

Kids Definition

millisecond

noun

mil·​li·​sec·​ond ˈmil-ə-ˌsek-ənd 

 also  -ənt

: one thousandth of a second

Medical Definition

millisecond

noun

mil·​li·​sec·​ond ˈmil-ə-ˌsek-ənd, -ənt 

: one thousandth of a second

—abbreviation ms, msec