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

The nurses were all coming in because they would not believe how calm and relaxed I was, and the centimeters were just going up.

From Washington Post

Moving at rates between 2 and 10 centimeters each year, some plates collide, some diverge and some grind past one another.

From Science News

A practical item with many different uses, this ruler offers both inches and centimeters and comes in a variety of sizes from 12″ to 36″ long.

From Popular-Science

As astonishing as it may seem, many experimental AR cloud concepts, even entirely mapped cities, are location specific down to the centimeter.

From Singularity Hub 

It seems when OSIRIS-REx touched down on Bennu’s surface, the collection head went 24 to 48 centimeters deep, which would explain how it recovered so much material.

From MIT Technology Review

The daughter had also been exposed and was comatose before she and her mother each received A 250 cubic centimeter transfusion.

From The Daily Beast

She grew increasingly ill despite a 450 cubic centimeter transfusion and became comatose after five days.

From The Daily Beast

True, this wasn't an outpost set up by Israeli settlers to prevent a centimeter of retreat from the Whole Land.

From The Daily Beast

So small and so numerous are these corpuscles that over five million are found in a cubic centimeter of normal blood.

From Project Gutenberg

One barn is equal to 10-24 square centimeter, which is approximately the cross-sectional area of a typical atomic nucleus.

From Project Gutenberg

With the highest known magnifying power we could distinguish the forty-thousandth part of a centimeter.

From Project Gutenberg

As the angle of the wedge is about one tenth, the intervals between these divisions are about one centimeter.

From Project Gutenberg

Having done this, bring the goblet to within about a centimeter of the pipe stem.

From Project Gutenberg