plural units
1
: a single thing, person, or group that is a part of something larger
The family is the basic unit of society.
The search party broke up into smaller units.
Their army unit guarded the border.
2
: a part of a hospital where a particular type of care is provided
the intensive care unit
a trauma unit
3
: a particular amount of length, time, money, etc., that is used as a standard for counting or measuring
Feet and meters are units of length.
units of measurement
The dollar is the principal unit of American currency.
4
: a part of a school course or textbook with a particular subject
Our class is finishing up the unit on World War I.
5
US, education
: an amount of work used for measuring a student's progress towards earning a degree in a school, college, etc.
Each unit of credit represents 120 classroom hours.
6
business
: an individual item of one of the products that a company makes and sells
Last year the company sold 200,000 units of that particular model of car.
7
: a machine or part of a machine or system that has a particular use
an air-conditioning unit
a portable/handheld unit
the computer's central processing unit
8
: one of a number of apartments in a building
The building is divided into eight units.
9
: a set of similar pieces of furniture (such as shelves or cabinets) that are grouped or attached together
a built-in storage/wall unit
(chiefly Brit) a kitchen unit [=a set of kitchen cabinets and appliances]
Cite this Entry
“Unit.” Merriam-Webster.com Simple Definition, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/simple/unit. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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