Adjacent Words

Kilometer definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

KILOM'ETER, n. [Gr. a thousand, and a meter.] In the French system of measures, a thousand meters; the meter being the unit of linear measure. The kilometer is nearly equal to a quarter of a French league.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a metric unit of length equal to 1000 meters (or 0.621371 miles) [syn: kilometer, kilometre, km, klick]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: French kilomètre, from kilo- + mètre meter Date: 1810 a metric unit or length equal to 1000 meters — see metric system table Usage: In North American speech kilometer is most often pronounced with primary stress on the second syllable. This pronunciation is also heard frequently in British speech. Those who object to second syllable stress say that the first syllable should be stressed in accord with the stress patterns of centimeter, millimeter, etc. However, the pronunciation of kilometer does not parallel that of other metric compounds. From 1828 to 1841 Noah Webster indicated only second syllable stress, and his successor added a first syllable stress variant in the first Merriam-Webster dictionary of 1847. Thus, both pronunciations are venerable. Most scientists use second syllable stress, although first syllable stress seems to occur with a higher rate of frequency among scientists than among nonscientists.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Kilometer Kil"o*me`ter, Kilometre Kil"o*me`tre, n. [F. kilometre. See Kilogram, and Meter.] A measure of length, being a thousand meters. It is equal to 3,280.8 feet, or 62137 of a mile.

Moby Thesaurus

A, G, M, a, angstrom unit, astronomical unit, block, centimeter, chain, chiliad, chiliagon, chiliahedron, chiliarch, chiliarchia, cubit, decameter, decimeter, dekameter, ell, em, en, fathom, finger, foot, footstep, fur, furlong, grand, hand, inch, kilo, kilocycle, kilogram, kilohertz, kiloliter, lakh, league, light-year, line, link, meter, micron, mil, mile, millennium, millepede, milligram, milliliter, myriad, myriameter, nail, one hundred thousand, pace, palm, parsec, perch, pica, point, pole, rod, step, stride, ten thousand, thou, thousand, wavelength, yard