Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

order of magnitude

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.99 in modern English

Syllables: or-der of -mag-ni-tude
IPA

24

Scrabble Score

16

Letters

5

Syllables

12

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The class of scale or magnitude of any amount, where each class contains values of a fixed ratio (most often 10) to the class preceding it.

Example Sentences

"2011, Enrico Fermi, Wikisource (translator), Concerning a Contradiction between the Electrodynamic and Relativistic Theory of Electromagnetic Mass, 1922, Enrico Fermi, Über einen Widerspruch zwischen der elektrodynamischen und relativistischen Theorie der elektromagnetischen Masse, Physikalische Zeitschrift, v 23, pp 340-344, However, we notice that although this contraction is of order of magnitude v²:c², it changes the most important terms of electromagnetic mass, i.e, the rest mass."
"However, this pales to insignificance against the massive volume of spoken language, for with over 500 patrons, any given second of the lunch hour would result in a spoken word count in the thousands, and the whole lunch hour would see a word count orders of magnitude larger than 3000."

Etymology

18th century, in the sense "magnitude (brightness class) of a star", informed by the Greek τῶν μεγάλων τάξις (tôn megálōn táxis) (Ptolemy).

Inflected Forms

orders of magnitude (plural)

Phrases

ballpark figure

Frequently Paired Words

dex ballpark figure

Synonyms

OOM order magnitude

Questions

What does order of magnitude mean?: The class of scale or magnitude of any amount, where each class contains values of a fixed ratio (most often 10) to the class preceding it.
Where does order of magnitude come from?: 18th century, in the sense "magnitude (brightness class) of a star", informed by the Greek τῶν μεγάλων τάξις (tôn megálōn táxis) (Ptolemy).

How to pronounce order of magnitude

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