DIAMETER

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does diameter mean? 

• DIAMETER (noun)
  The noun DIAMETER has 2 senses:

1. the length of a straight line passing through the center of a circle and connecting two points on the circumference

2. a straight line connecting the center of a circle with two points on its perimeter (or the center of a sphere with two points on its surface)

  Familiarity information: DIAMETER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIAMETER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The length of a straight line passing through the center of a circle and connecting two points on the circumference

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

diam; diameter

Hypernyms ("diameter" is a kind of...):

length (the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place)

Meronyms (parts of "diameter"):

r; radius (the length of a line segment between the center and circumference of a circle or sphere)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "diameter"):

bore; caliber; calibre; gauge (diameter of a tube or gun barrel)

windage (the space between the projectile of a smoothbore gun and the surface of the bore of the gun)

Derivation:

diametral; diametric; diametrical (related to or along a diameter)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A straight line connecting the center of a circle with two points on its perimeter (or the center of a sphere with two points on its surface)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("diameter" is a kind of...):

straight line (a line traced by a point traveling in a constant direction; a line of zero curvature)

Derivation:

diametral; diametric; diametrical (related to or along a diameter)

 Context examples 

All measurable lymph nodes also have a reduction in short axis diameter to 10 mm.

(Modified Overall Immune Related Response Criterion, Complete Remission, NCI Thesaurus)

Though the structure isn’t as clearly circular as the Hiawatha crater, MacGregor estimated the second crater’s diameter at 22.7 miles.

(NASA Finds Possible Second Impact Crater Under Greenland Ice, NASA)

At the time NASA's Voyagers 1 and 2 sped by Jupiter on their way to Saturn and beyond, in 1979, the Great Red Spot was twice Earth's diameter.

(NASA's Juno Probes the Depths of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, NASA)

They also deduced that it has a diameter 1.4 times larger than the Earth — almost 18,000 kilometers.

(Super-Earth in Habitable Zone, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The most recently recorded sum of diameters minus the lowest sum of diameters previously recorded.

(Absolute Change From Nadir in Sum of Diameter, NCI Thesaurus)

It is usually associated with tumors that are larger than 3 cm in diameter.

(Moderately Differentiated Hepatocellular Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

The study used elevation data obtained by MESSENGER and LRO to measure approximately 15,000 simple craters with diameters ranging from 2.5 km to 15 km (about 1.5 miles to 9.3 miles) on Mercury and the Moon.

(The Moon and Mercury May Have Thick Ice Deposits, NASA)

It has a diameter of 10-18 micrometer, and an oval or round nucleus with finely granulated chromatin.

(Myelocyte, NCI Thesaurus)

The structures have a diameter that is measured in the nanoscale with an extended length parameter.

(Nanorod, NCI Thesaurus)

The removal of a tissue sample using a needle with a relatively large diameter, for microscopic examination.

(Core biopsy, NCI Thesaurus)