Meaning & use
thickness
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
The distance from one surface of an object to the opposite surface, measured through it rather than along it.
Grammar: Uncountable in general talk (the thickness of the wall), countable with a number (two thicknesses of cloth).
Patterns
- the thickness of something
- something in thickness
- something of a certain thickness
The thickness of the ice was about four inches, enough to hold a person.
Cut the steak to an even thickness so it cooks evenly.
The glass varies in thickness from one end to the other.
nouncountable
A single layer of a material, especially when several are placed together.
Grammar: Usually follows a number: two thicknesses of paper.
Patterns
- a thickness of something
Wrap the pipe in two thicknesses of felt to keep it from freezing.
Fold the cloth to a double thickness before sewing.
A single thickness of card was not strong enough.
noununcountable
The quality of being dense, heavy or hard to see or move through, as with fog, hair or liquid.
Grammar: Describes how dense something is, not its measured size.
Patterns
- the thickness of something
The thickness of the fog made driving dangerous.
She admired the thickness of his hair.
Add flour until the sauce reaches the right thickness.
Word forms
| plural | thicknesses |
|---|
Common combinations
- uniform thickness
- Roll the dough to a uniform thickness before cutting shapes.
- in thickness
- The wall is about a foot in thickness.
- measure the thickness
- Use calipers to measure the thickness of the metal sheet.
- vary in thickness
- The layers of rock vary in thickness across the cliff.
- double thickness
- The bag is made of double thickness plastic for extra strength.
Synonyms and how they differ
- depth
- Depth is measured downward or inward from a top or front edge, while thickness is the distance between two opposite faces.
- width
- Width is measured across a flat object, whereas thickness is the usually smaller measurement through it.
- density
- Density describes how tightly packed the material is, while thickness may only be about size or how fluid something is.
- girth
- Girth is the distance around a rounded object like a tree trunk, not through it.
Opposites
Word family
- thick adjective
- having a large distance through
- thicken verb
- to become or make thicker
- thickly adverb
- in a thick layer or dense way
- thickener noun
- something added to make a liquid thicker
Commonly confused: thickness or width?
thickness vs width
Width is the side-to-side measurement across. Thickness is the measurement through the material.
Practice
The engineer checked the ____ of the steel plate to be sure it was exactly two centimeters through.
Choose one answer.
Thickness is the distance between the plate's two opposite faces. Width and length are measured across the surface instead.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “thickness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.