centimeter

noun cen·ti·me·ter \ ˈsen-tə-ˌmē-tər , ˈsän- \

|Updated on: 17 Aug 2018

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of centimeter

: a unit of length equal to ¹/₁₀₀ meter — see Metric System Table

See centimeter defined for English-language learners

See centimeter defined for kids

Recent Examples of centimeter from the Web

The white Sleepbuds weigh 1.4 grams and are the smallest product Bose has ever made, measuring just over 1 centimeter in both width and height.

— chris welch, The Verge, "Bose’s new $250 Sleepbuds play soothing sounds instead of music," 20 June 2018
The snakes ranged from 6 inches to 2 feet (15 to 61 centimeters) in length.

— Fox News, "Police: 100s of snakes, mice in sexual abuse suspect's home," 3 June 2018
Cracks on Highway 130 widened from 7 to 8 centimeters over the day and additional cracks were found west of the highway.

— stephanie elam, CNN, "Hawaii volcano eruption leaves residents wondering about fate of homes," 8 May 2018
Finally, engineers process lidar data into three-dimensional renderings of the road with the centimeter-level accuracy needed for a car to confidently drive itself.

— bradley berman, Popular Mechanics, "Whoever Owns the Maps Owns the Future of Self-Driving Cars," 1 July 2016
Carter found a one-centimeter defect in the joint and performed microfracture surgery to repair it.

— malika andrews, chicagotribune.com, "A career-threatening surgery: The rise and fall of microfracture in the NBA," 6 July 2018
The costume person started secretly taking [Miller’s] clothes in a centimeter a day!

— karen mizoguchi, PEOPLE.com, "John Leguizamo Apologizes for 'Hurtful Remarks' About Carlito's Way Crew Hating Penelope Ann Miller," 19 June 2018
American customers will buy it again for the 2019 model year The Super Cub is a throwback to the Honda 50, a reference the size of its small engine in cubic centimeters, which has since gotten more powerful over the years.

— david pan, USA TODAY, "Honda Super Cub motorcycle, most popular vehicle ever, returns to the U.S.," 8 June 2018
Nevertheless, there are plenty of cases in science and technology when reasonably high-resolution imaging over a few centimeters would be really, really useful.

— chris lee, Ars Technica, "Big picture? Details? New imaging system offers both," 2 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'centimeter.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

In the metric system, which is used in most countries of the world, each basic unit of measure of length, area, or volume can be divided into centimeters. A meter consists of 100 centimeters, a square meter consists of 10,000 square centimeters, and a cubic meter consists of 1,000,000 cubic centimeters.