Definition of millisecond
: one thousandth of a second
From the M-W Editors
Recent Examples of millisecond from the Web
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There was probably more to it than simply trying to pull a pitch and waiting a millisecond too long to make contact, but Jones insisted that his leadoff home run onto the flag court in the first inning was purely by accident.
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The system now can decouple the rear axle differential and, with the miracle of electromechanics, will re-engage all-wheel-drive traction in less than 250 milliseconds, a task that once took two whole seconds.
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Every scene races by in milliseconds that, paradoxically enough, seem to last for eons.
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In a car accident, the point at which maneuvers by either car will be insufficient to avoid the collision happen in milliseconds before impact, but that point is reached in the tens of seconds or more before impact between ships.
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Within the parameters of acceptable book-club behavior, there are covert-ish ways to signal attraction: laughing at jokes, holding eye contact a millisecond too long, seconding a book selection.
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Scott returned to Earth two inches taller and five milliseconds younger, with a smaller heart than Mark.
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That difference of 150 milliseconds might have prevented his wife from getting a ticket.
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The wave hit Washington about 3 milliseconds before Louisiana.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'millisecond.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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.
Origin and Etymology of millisecond
International Scientific Vocabulary
MILLISECOND Defined for English Language Learners
millisecond
playDefinition of millisecond for English Language Learners
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: one thousandth of a second
Medical Dictionary
millisecond
playMedical Definition of millisecond
: one thousandth of a second—abbreviation ms, msec
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