tonne

noun \ ˈtən \

|Updated on: 11 Jun 2018

Definition of tonne

: metric ton

See tonne defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of tonne from the Web

Around the world, 8 million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in oceans every year, comprising 80% of all ocean litter, according to the U.N. Environment Programme.

— eli meixler, Time, "A Pilot Whale Has Died in Southern Thailand After Swallowing 17 Pounds of Plastic Waste," 4 June 2018
Of the 200,000 tonnes of cheese made each year in Ireland, 90% is cheddar.

— The Economist, "Fearing Brexit, Irish cheesemakers mull a switch to mozzarella," 28 Apr. 2018
Wallis figured that to do serious damage, a single four tonne bomb had to be detonated right up against the dam wall at a depth of about 30 feet below the water.

— hugh hunt, Smithsonian, "How a British Engineer Made a Bomb That Could Bounce On Water," 17 May 2018
The huge volcanoes erupting in Siberia belched thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, setting off a chain reaction that involved global warming, acid rain, and loss of oxygen from the sea bed.

— collin eaton, Houston Chronicle, "The numbers behind the Permian spotlight at OTC," 1 May 2018
More than 8 million tonnes of plastics enter the ocean each year, and marine experts fear there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, measured by weight.

— michael taylor, The Christian Science Monitor, "With reusable plastic bag, Malaysian shoppers encouraged to limit waste," 3 Apr. 2018
Untold tonnes end up as irretrievable ocean flotsam, which sunlight and salt fragment into microscopic pieces that attract toxins and may be gulped by creatures that become seafood.

— The Economist, "Plastic surgeryDon’t bin plastic. To solve the polymer problem look East," 1 Mar. 2018
Hong Kong has always been the ‘heart of darkness’ of the ivory trade with a 670 tonne stockpile when international trade was banned in 1989.

— jason daley, Smithsonian, "Hong Kong Will Phase Out Ivory Trade by 2021," 2 Feb. 2018
The discovery could oneday result in a recycling solution that can process millions of tonnes of plastic, made from polyethylene terephthalate (also known as PET), which currently persists in the environment for hundreds of years.

— National Geographic, "Enzyme That Eats Plastic Accidentally Found in Lab," 20 Apr. 2018

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.