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

By matching these measurements with high-speed videos, the scientists tracked the woodpeckers’ taps down to every four milliseconds. —Rohini Subrahmanyam, Scientific American, 2 Jan. 2026

In fact, this is already happening, and brands are using AI to do it in milliseconds. —Adam Rumanek, Rolling Stone, 2 Jan. 2026

Seeing robots live inside To overcome these challenges, the researchers developed a multi-frequency dual-echo (MFDE) MRI sequence that reduces repetition time to just 30 milliseconds. —Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 1 Jan. 2026

Nailing big emotions while tethered to millisecond-specific precision is no easy task, Toven said. —Hugh Hart, IndieWire, 29 Dec. 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