MAGNITUDE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Magnitude

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/mˈægnətˌud/ Listen

noun

Magnitude n.

1.

Extent of dimensions; size; applied to things that have length, breadth, 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."

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.

4.

Greatness; grandeur. "With plain, heroic magnitude of mind."

5.

Greatness, in reference to influence or effect; importance; as, an affair of magnitude. "The magnitude of his designs."

6.

(Astron.) See magnitude of a star, below.

Apparent magnitude

1.

(Opt.), the angular breadth of an object viewed as measured by the angle which it subtends at the eye of the observer; called also apparent diameter.

2.

(Astron.) Same as magnitude of a star, below.

Magnitude of a star (Astron.), the rank of a star with respect to brightness. About twenty very bright stars are said to be of first magnitude, the stars of the sixth magnitude being just visible to the naked eye; called also visual magnitude, apparent magnitude, and simply magnitude. Stars observable only in the telescope are classified down to below the twelfth magnitude. The difference in actual brightness between magnitudes is now specified as a factor of 2.512, i.e. the difference in brightness is 100 for stars differing by five magnitudes.

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Etymology of 'Magnitude'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Magnitude" Quotes from Famous Books

... the old horse until his ears "sassed her back." They jogged along—every moment nature was getting more and more wideawake, until Tavia feared she would really wake up to the magnitude of her own personal offence, everything else seemed so ...

— Dorothy Dale's Camping Days • Margaret Penrose

... were steaming into battle in the Adriatic. This coming struggle, while it was to be by no means decisive, was nevertheless the first engagement of any magnitude to be fought in southern waters; also it was the first in which fighters of the air were ...

— The Boy Allies Under Two Flags • Ensign Robert L. Drake

... first water and magnitude, now makes his entre—the ghost of the late king! and here I must digress awhile, and like a raw notary's clerk, enter my feeble protest against the tame and unimpressive manner in which that supernatural personage is permitted to make his appearance. It should seem that our managers ...

— The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 4, April 1810 • Various

... commerce; here the disabled vessels of all nations find a resting place. In time of war they are strongly entrenched positions, liable to capture by any nation which can secure a base for operations against them. Madagascar, on the other hand, stands fifth on the list of islands in magnitude, is situated in the latitude most favorable for agriculture, and abounds in every kind of material wealth. A harbor on its coast, with the whole island as a depot from whence supplies can be drawn, would be a source ...

— The Continental Monthly, Volume V. Issue I • Various

... the Greatness of the Action, does not only mean that it should be great in its Nature, but also in its Duration, or in other Words that it should have a due Length in it, as well as what we properly call Greatness. The just Measure of this kind of Magnitude, he explains by the following Similitude. [18] An Animal, no bigger than a Mite, cannot appear perfect to the Eye, because the Sight takes it in at once, and has only a confused Idea of the Whole, and not a distinct Idea ...

— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

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