See Also: Dimension(medicine)
dimension(dictionary)
dimension(encyclopedia)
dimension(dictionary)
Vertical dimension(health)
Fractal dimension(finance)
Fractal Dimension(money)
Correlation Dimension(money)
vertical dimension(medicine)
buccolingual dimension(medicine)

dimension (iou)



dimension noun & verb. LME.
[French from Latin dimensio(n-), from dimens- pa. ppl stem of dimetiri measure out, from di- DI-1 + metiri measure.]
A. noun.
Measurable spatial extent of any kind, as length, breadth, area, volume. Now usu. in pl. LME.
of large dimensions etc., of large etc. size.
K. Tynan Shrinking before our eyes to the dimensions of a pickled walnut.
b. Duration. LME-L17.
c. The magnitude or scale of an abstract thing. M17.
G. F. Kennan Soviet trade never quite achieved,..between the two wars, the dimensions of prewar Russian trade.
A mode of linear extension of which there are three in space, two on a flat surface, etc., and which corresponds to one of a set of coordinates specifying the position of a point; Math. such a coordinate. LME.
FOURTH dimension.
R. A. Knox How do we get our notion of solid objects, when we can only see in two dimensions?
b. Math. Any of a number of quantities in a product, esp. of unknowns. M16.
Oxford English Dictionary x3, x2y, xyz are each of three dimensions.
c. Science. The power to which any fundamental quantity or unit is raised in a product defining a derived quantity or unit; in pl., the product itself. M19.
d. An attribute or status that may be seen as inhering in or characterizing an abstract thing; an aspect. E20.
A. O. J. Cockshut The religious dimension..would have given coherence and deeper meaning to the..scraps of virtue displayed by Flora. Listener Atomic bombs..brought a new dimension of destruction and horror to warfare.
The action of measuring, measurement. M16-L18.
b. Music. The division of a longer note into shorter ones; in pl., measured strains. L16-M17.
Measurable form; in pl., material parts, as of the body. L16-M17.
Comb.: dimension line: showing, usu. with arrowheads, the parts or lines to which the figured dimensions refer in a plan etc.
b. verb trans.
Measure, reduce to measurement. rare. M18.
Mark the dimensions on (a plan etc.). Cf. earlier DIMENSIONED 3. E20.