centimeter

[ sen-tuh-mee-ter ]

noun

1. one 100th of a meter, equivalent to 0.3937 inch. : cm, cm.

centimeter

/ sĕn′tə-mē′tər /

1. A unit of length in the metric system equal to 0.01 meter.
2. See Table at measurement

centimeter

1. A unit of length in the metric system ; one-hundredth of a meter , or about two-fifths of an inch.

Word History and Origins

Origin of centimeter¹

From the French word centimètre, dating back to 1795–1805. See centi-, meter ¹

Example Sentences

In the process, she discovered that the left-leaning credentials of so many in the so-called wellness world were a centimeter deep, more about aesthetics than values.

From Salon

The 3D reconstructions revealed complex networks of interconnected PanINs with an average overall burden of 13 PanINs per cubic centimeter, and a range of from 1 to 31 PanINs per cubic centimeter.

From Science Daily

"We observed anisotropic emission polarization, low-loss waveguiding below 3 decibels per millimeter and efficient low-threshold light amplification below 20 microjoules per square centimeter," he said.

From Science Daily

That this was a lie was always evident to those willing to look even a centimeter below the surface.

From Salon

Still, the broken top-of-Google answers may even be spilling over into the search engine’s other features, like its automatic calculator: One U.S.–based user found, posting a screenshot to X, that Google’s tech couldn’t even scan that the unit cm stands for centimeter, reading the measure as a whole meter.

From Slate