variants
or British calibre
plural calibers
1
: level of excellence, skill, etc.
The school will only hire teachers of the highest caliber. [=will only hire the best teachers]
I was impressed by the high caliber of the team's work.
It is exciting to meet a writer of his caliber. [=a writer as good/skillful as he is]
The two colleges are not of the same caliber. [=one of the colleges is better than the other]
2
: a measurement of the width of a bullet or a gun barrel
a .22-caliber bullet [=a bullet that is 22 hundredths of an inch in diameter]
a high-caliber bullet
Cite this Entry
“Caliber.” Merriam-Webster.com Simple Definition, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/simple/caliber. Accessed 15 Apr. 2026.
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