Measurement

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/

Definitions

1. The act or process of determining the size, amount, or degree of something using standard units or instruments
2. The action of determining the dimensions, amounts, or magnitudes of objects or phenomena through systematic methods and tools
3. The process of quantifying the size, extent, or volume of an item or phenomenon using defined standards or equipment

Etymology: "Measurement" is a straightforward formation: the English noun "measure" with the suffix "-ment," which attaches to a verb or noun to name the act or result of something. The suffix itself came into English from Old French "-ment," which descended from Latin "-mentum," a suffix forming nouns from verbs and carrying the sense of means or result. Latin "-mentum" in turn grew from an older Proto-Italic form, reaching far back into the reconstructed ancestry of the Indo-European languages. The base word, "measure," has an older and more eventful path. It came into Middle English from Old French "mesure," which was borrowed from Latin "mēnsūra," meaning a measuring or a measure. That Latin noun was built from "mēnsus," the past participle of "mētiri," to measure, the same root that gives English words like "immense," which literally means "not measurable." Measurement itself was formed in English by attaching "-ment" to "measure," so the word is a native English compound of a French suffix and a Latin-derived root. Its earliest English sense named the act of measuring, and it still does.

Synonyms: dimension, quantification, calculation, assessment, determination

Antonyms: estimation, guess, approximation, failure, miscalculation