Admeasurement

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The procedure of assessing the size or extent of land or other dimensions
2. The act of determining the dimensions or area of a parcel of land or property by precise measurement
3. A method to calculate the extent or boundaries of a property using measurement techniques

Etymology: "Admeasurement" is built from "admeasure" plus the suffix "-ment," so its story is mostly the story of that suffix. The suffix traces back through Latin "-mentum," which marked the result or means of an action, to a Proto-Indo-European ending, and it passed into English through Old French "-ment" and Middle English "-ment." English speakers have long used it to turn verbs into nouns for the act or result of doing something, as in "measurement" or "judgment." The base verb, "admeasure," is the more useful piece. It carries the older sense of measuring out a share or allotment, which is why the noun is tied so closely to dividing land and property. A surveyor who admeasures a parcel is not just finding its size but fixing how it is to be apportioned, and the noun names that whole process.

Synonyms: measurement, assessment, evaluation, calculation, quantification

Antonyms: estimation, guess, approximation