Standard Lemma guide

magnitude

noun · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈmæɡnɪtjuːd/
  • /ˈmæɡnɪt͡ʃuːd/ yod-coalescence
  • /ˈmæɡnɪtuːd/ yod-dropping
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M AE1 G N AH0 T UW2 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The absolute or relative size, extent or importance of something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An order of magnitude.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A number, assigned to something, such that it may be compared to others numerically

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Of a vector, the norm, most commonly, the two-norm.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A logarithmic scale of brightness defined so that a difference of 5 magnitudes is a factor of 100.

The apparent brightness of a star, with lower magnitudes being brighter; apparent magnitude

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: astronomy, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A logarithmic scale of brightness defined so that a difference of 5 magnitudes is a factor of 100.

A ratio of intensity expressed as a logarithm.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Topics: astronomy, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

A measure of the energy released by an earthquake (e.g. on the Richter scale).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: geography, geology, natural-sciences, seismology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

the property of relative size or extent (whether large or small)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • they tried to predict the magnitude of the explosion
  • about the magnitude of a small pea

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: property

Narrower terms: absolute magnitude, proportion, dimension, order, order of magnitude, degree, amplitude, multiplicity, triplicity, size, bulk, mass, volume, muchness, intensity, strength, intensity level, amount, extent

9

noun

Meaning 9

relative importance

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a problem of the first magnitude

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: importance

Narrower terms: largeness, extensiveness

10

noun

Meaning 10

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

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: order of magnitude

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: ratio

History

Etymology

From Latin magnitūdō (“greatness, size”), magnus + -tūdō.

Across languages

Translations

124 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: մեծություն (mecutʻyun) — size, etc.
  • Armenian: չափ (čʻapʻ) — size, etc.
  • Belarusian: велічыня́ (vjeličynjá) — size, etc.
  • Bulgarian: големина (golemina) — size, etc.
  • Catalan: magnitud — size, etc.
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大小 (dàxiǎo) — size, etc.
  • Dutch: grootte — size, etc.
  • Esperanto: grando — size, etc.
  • Esperanto: grandeco — size, etc.
  • Esperanto: magnitudo — size, etc.
  • Estonian: suurus — size, etc.
  • Estonian: ulatus — size, etc.
  • Estonian: tähtsus — size, etc.
  • Finnish: koko — size, etc.
  • Finnish: laajuus — size, etc.
  • Finnish: merkitys — size, etc.
  • French: ampleur — size, etc.
  • Georgian: სიდიდე (sidide) — size, etc.
  • Gothic: 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌿𐌸𐍃 (mikildūþs) — size, etc.
  • Gothic: 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌴𐌹 (mikilei) — size, etc.
  • Ancient Greek: μέγεθος (mégethos) — size, etc.
  • Hindi: आकार (ākār) — size, etc.
  • Ingrian: suurus — size, etc.
  • Irish: méid — size, etc.
  • Italian: vastità — size, etc.
  • Italian: magnitudine — size, etc.
  • Japanese: 大きさ (ōkisa) — size, etc.
  • Kazakh: көлем (kölem) — size, etc.
  • Latin: magnitūdō — size, etc.
  • Macedonian: голе́мина (golémina) — size, etc.
  • Māori: kaha — size, etc.
  • Polish: wielkość — size, etc.
  • Portuguese: grandeza — size, etc.
  • Portuguese: magnitude — size, etc.
  • Romanian: mărime — size, etc.
  • Russian: величина́ (veličiná) — size, etc.
  • Russian: разме́р (razmér) — size, etc.
  • Scottish Gaelic: meudachd — size, etc.
  • Spanish: magnitud — size, etc.
  • Swedish: magnitud — size, etc.
  • Tagalog: dakil — size, etc.
  • Tajik: бузургӣ (buzurgi) — size, etc.
  • Turkish: şiddet — size, etc.
  • Turkish: büyüklük — size, etc.
  • Ukrainian: величина́ (velyčyná) — size, etc.
  • Armenian: մեծություն (mecutʻyun) — number
  • Bulgarian: порядък (porjadǎk) — number
  • Estonian: suurus — number
  • Finnish: suuruus — number
  • French: grandeur — number
  • German: Betrag — number
  • Japanese: 大きさ (ōkisa) — number
  • Polish: liczba — number
  • Portuguese: magnitude — number
  • Romanian: mărime (numerică) — number
  • Romanian: cantitate — number
  • Russian: величина́ (veličiná) — number
  • Spanish: magnitud — number
  • Swedish: magnitud — number
  • Swedish: storlek — number
  • Tagalog: dakil — number
  • Finnish: pituus — of a vector
  • French: module — of a vector
  • German: Betrag — of a vector
  • Italian: module — of a vector
  • Japanese: 大きさ (ōkisa) — of a vector
  • Polish: długość — of a vector
  • Polish: wartość — of a vector
  • Polish: norma — of a vector
  • Portuguese: magnitude — of a vector
  • Romanian: mărime — of a vector
  • Russian: модуль (modulʹ) — of a vector
  • Spanish: norma — of a vector
  • Swedish: magnitud — of a vector
  • Swedish: längd — of a vector
  • Swedish: norm — of a vector
  • Tagalog: dakil — of a vector
  • Bulgarian: звездна величина (zvezdna veličina) — apparent brightness of a star
  • Chinese Mandarin: 星等 (xīngděng) — apparent brightness of a star
  • Estonian: tähesuurus — apparent brightness of a star
  • Estonian: magnituud — apparent brightness of a star
  • Finnish: magnitudi — apparent brightness of a star
  • Finnish: suuruusluokka — apparent brightness of a star
  • Finnish: kirkkausaste — apparent brightness of a star
  • French: magnitude — apparent brightness of a star
  • Hindi: सापेक्ष कांतिमान (sāpekṣ kāntimān) — apparent brightness of a star
  • Hungarian: magnitúdó — apparent brightness of a star
  • Irish: méid — apparent brightness of a star
  • Italian: magnitudine — apparent brightness of a star
  • Japanese: 等級 (tōkyū) — apparent brightness of a star
  • Persian: قدر فروغ (qadr) — apparent brightness of a star
  • Polish: wielkość gwiazdowa — apparent brightness of a star
  • Portuguese: magnitude — apparent brightness of a star
  • Romanian: mărime stelară — apparent brightness of a star
  • Romanian: magnitudine — apparent brightness of a star
  • Russian: величина́ (veličiná) — apparent brightness of a star
  • Russian: магниту́да (magnitúda) — apparent brightness of a star
  • Spanish: magnitud — apparent brightness of a star
  • Swedish: skenbar magnitud — apparent brightness of a star
  • Tagalog: kinang — apparent brightness of a star
  • Turkish: kadir — apparent brightness of a star
  • Armenian: ուժգնություն (užgnutʻyun) — energy of earthquake
  • Bulgarian: магниту́д (magnitúd) — energy of earthquake
  • Chinese Mandarin: 震級 /震级 (zhènjí) — energy of earthquake
  • Estonian: magnituud — energy of earthquake
  • Finnish: magnitudi — energy of earthquake
  • Finnish: voimakkuus — energy of earthquake
  • French: magnitude — energy of earthquake
  • Hindi: परिमाण (parimāṇ) — energy of earthquake
  • Hungarian: magnitúdó — energy of earthquake
  • Irish: méid creatha talún — energy of earthquake
  • Italian: magnitudo — energy of earthquake
  • Japanese: マグニチュード (magunichūdo) — energy of earthquake
  • Kazakh: магнитуда (magnituda) — energy of earthquake
  • Polish: magnituda — energy of earthquake
  • Portuguese: magnitude — energy of earthquake
  • Romanian: magnitudine — energy of earthquake
  • Romanian: mărime — energy of earthquake
  • Russian: мо́щность (móščnostʹ) — energy of earthquake
  • Russian: магниту́да (magnitúda) — energy of earthquake
  • Spanish: magnitud — energy of earthquake
  • Swedish: magnitud — energy of earthquake
  • Tagalog: dakil — energy of earthquake
  • Turkish: şiddet — energy of earthquake
Real reading context

magnitude in complete knowledge articles