Magnitude - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Magnitude :  (noun)
1: the property of relative size or extent; "they tried to predict the magnitude of the explosion"
2: a number assigned to the ratio of two quantities; two quantities are of the same order of magnitude if one is less than 10 times as large as the other; the number of magnitudes that the quantities differ is specified to within a power of 10 [syn: order of magnitude]
3: relative importance; "a problem of the first magnitude"

Based on WordNet 2.0

Magnitude : \Mag"ni*tude\, n. [L. magnitudo, from magnus great. See Master, and cf. Maxim.] 1. Extent of dimensions; size; -- applied to things that have length, breath, and thickness.

Conceive those particles of bodies to be so disposed amongst themselves, that the intervals of empty spaces between them may be equal in magnitude to them all. --Sir I. Newton.

2. (Geom.) That which has one or more of the three dimensions, length, breadth, and thickness.

3. Anything of which greater or less can be predicated, as time, weight, force, and the like.

Based on WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003)
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