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 latency is reduced by 17 to 30 milliseconds, enhancing responsiveness and eliminating lag. — George Yang, PC Magazine, 27 Aug. 2026

Prepare revenue management for machine-to-machine negotiation—an agent presenting constraints, a pricing engine countering with a dynamic package, a deal closing in milliseconds. — Himanshu Sinha, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026

From skin sensors robotics The wearable sensor responded in about 100 milliseconds and recovered in roughly 300 milliseconds. — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 18 Aug. 2026

The first customers are mostly high-frequency trading firms that could benefit financially from getting official government news milliseconds before others. — Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 12 Aug. 2026

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