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tonne

noun
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\ ˈtən How to pronounce tonne (audio) \

Definition of tonne

: metric ton

Examples of tonne in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Pachama, a carbon offsetting company,is selling gifts to help solve climate change, including purchasing verified carbon credits starting at $6 per tonne of carbon. — NBC News, "Giving Tuesday 2020: What it is and how to get involved," 1 Dec. 2020 Outside of the United States, a tonne is another way of saying metric ton, which is 1,000 kilograms or 2,204.6 pounds. — Washington Post, "Hints From Heloise: Nursing home residents could use a cheerful note," 3 Nov. 2020 Michele Della Vigna of Goldman Sachs, a bank, estimates that the divergent cost of capital for oil and renewables investments implies a price of up to $80 a tonne of carbon dioxide, well above the global average of around $3. — The Economist, "The new majors BP and other oil majors v utilities," 26 Sep. 2020 Iron ore has increased from $80 a tonne to over $100. — The Economist, "Buttonwood The reasons behind the spectacular rally in metal prices," 11 June 2020 Previous work suggests that events as small as a tonne of explosives going off can be detected. — The Economist, "Planetary monitoring A plan to turn the atmosphere into one, enormous sensor," 11 June 2020 Demand in summer 2020 will fall 2.7%, or by 3 million tonnes, compared to the summer of the previous year. — Josh Siegel, Washington Examiner, "Daily on Energy: Top State official says clean energy fate hinges on securing supply of metals and minerals," 2 June 2020 This translates into a saving of 4,000 tonnes of oil a year, and a concomitant reduction of around $800,000 in fuel bills. — The Economist, "Antifouling technology A new robot may help keep ships’ bottoms clean," 28 May 2020 Some of the report's key findings include: • The estimated total change in emissions from the pandemic amounted to 1,048 million tonnes of carbon dioxide through the end of April. — Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, "Coronavirus lockdowns have caused a whopping 17% drop in global carbon emissions," 19 May 2020

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

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First Known Use of tonne

1869, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for tonne

French, from tonne tun, from Old French — more at tunnel

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Cite this Entry

“Tonne.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tonne. Accessed 27 Feb. 2021.

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Britannica English: Translation of tonne for Arabic Speakers

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