Magnitude
['mægnɪtjuːd] or ['mæɡnɪtud]
Definition
(noun.) the property of relative size or extent (whether large or small); 'they tried to predict the magnitude of the explosion'; 'about the magnitude of a small pea'.
(noun.) relative importance; 'a problem of the first magnitude'.
Edited by Fred--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Extent of dimensions; size; -- applied to things that have length, breath, and thickness.
(n.) That which has one or more of the three dimensions, length, breadth, and thickness.
(n.) Anything of which greater or less can be predicated, as time, weight, force, and the like.
(n.) Greatness; grandeur.
(n.) Greatness, in reference to influence or effect; importance; as, an affair of magnitude.
Typed by Chauncey
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Size, bulk, volume, extent, dimension, CAPACITY.[2]. Greatness, importance.[3]. (Math.) Quantity.
Typed by Clint
Definition
n. greatness: size: extent: importance.
Checker: Lorrie
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. Size. Magnitude being purely relative nothing is large and nothing small. If everything in the universe were increased in bulk one thousand diameters nothing would be any larger than it was before but if one thing remain unchanged all the others would be larger than they had been. To an understanding familiar with the relativity of magnitude and distance the spaces and masses of the astronomer would be no more impressive than those of the microscopist. For anything we know to the contrary the visible universe may be a small part of an atom with its component ions floating in the life-fluid (luminiferous ether) of some animal. Possibly the wee creatures peopling the corpuscles of our own blood are overcome with the proper emotion when contemplating the unthinkable distance from one of these to another.
Edited by Horace
Examples
- We have had the vague consciousness of assisting at a great development whose evidences to-day on every hand attest its magnitude. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- These lights dotted the hillside like stars of a low magnitude. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- And so we were most happily disappointed to find in the sequel that the guide had even failed to rise to the magnitude of his subject. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Nor could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any argument of its impracticability. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- Among the applications of the telegraph which deserve special mention for magnitude and importance is the Atlantic Cable. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- As the trees would have to be cut close to the bottom--under water--it was an undertaking of great magnitude. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Standing in front of the factory office, the visitor is doubly impressed with the magnitude of the view before him. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Trees of considerable magnitude have also been brought to light. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The manufacture of _sugar_ and _glucose_ from starch is an industry of great magnitude, which has grown up in the last twenty-five years. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Among the three hundred stars observed Challis was struck by the appearance of one which presented a disk and shone with the brightness of a star of the eighth magnitude. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- I said I would be ready at half-past six, and after she was gone, stood looking at the basket, quite lost in the magnitude of my trust. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The small weight makes up in distance what it lacks in magnitude. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- The Sphynx is grand in its loneliness; it is imposing in its magnitude; it is impressive in the mystery that hangs over its story. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Two offenses of a very different nature, and by no means of equal magnitude, you last night laid to my charge. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- One of my laboratory assistants went out with me and we visited many of the mines of New Jersey, but did not find deposits of any magnitude. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
Checked by Judith