Meaning & use
decimeter
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Meaning
nouncountable
A unit of length in the metric system equal to ten centimeters, or one tenth of a meter.
Grammar: Used after numbers: three decimeters. British spelling is decimetre.
Patterns
- X decimeters long
- X decimeters wide
The ribbon was exactly two decimeters long.
A liter of water fills a cube that is one decimeter on each side.
Students converted forty centimeters into four decimeters.
Word forms
| plural | decimeters |
|---|
Common combinations
- cubic decimeter
- A cubic decimeter holds exactly one liter.
- square decimeter
- The tile covered about four square decimeters.
- measure in decimeters
- In class we measured the desk in decimeters.
- ten centimeters
- One decimeter is ten centimeters.
- tenth of a meter
- A decimeter is a tenth of a meter.
Word family
- deci- prefix
- a prefix meaning one tenth
- meter noun
- the base unit of length that a decimeter divides
- centimeter noun
- one hundredth of a meter
- decimal adjective
- relating to tenths or to a base-ten system
Commonly confused: decimeter or decameter?
decimeter vs decameter
A decameter is ten meters, a much larger length, while a decimeter is a tenth of a meter. The prefixes deca- and deci- look alike but point in opposite directions.
Practice
How many centimeters are there in one decimeter?
Choose one answer.
Deci- means one tenth, so a decimeter is a tenth of a meter, which is ten centimeters. One hundred centimeters would be a whole meter.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “decimeter”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.