magnitude
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the great size or importance of something.
the property of relative size or extent; often used to emphasize the seriousness or scale of a situation.
Simple“The government did not realize the magnitude of the economic crisis until it was too late.”
In context“The sheer magnitude of the humanitarian disaster required a coordinated international response that spanned several continents.”
SynonymsAntonymsinsignificancesmallness - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
a number that shows how much energy an earthquake releases.
a quantitative measure of the energy released by an earthquake, typically recorded on the Richter scale or moment magnitude scale.
Simple“The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.2, causing damage to many buildings.”
In context“Seismologists reported that the magnitude of the aftershock was significantly lower than the initial quake, though it still posed a risk to unstable structures.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
a number that measures how bright a star or planet looks from Earth.
a logarithmic measure of the brightness of a celestial body, where lower numbers represent greater luminosity.
Simple“Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky and has a very low magnitude.”
In context“The telescope is capable of detecting distant galaxies with a visual magnitude far beyond the reach of the naked eye.”
Synonyms - 04 C1 Advanced
the length or size of a mathematical object, like a vector.
the absolute value of a real number, or the length of a vector in Euclidean space.
Simple“To find the vector's magnitude, you need to use the Pythagorean theorem.”
In context“In physics, velocity is a vector quantity because it accounts for both the magnitude of speed and the direction of travel.”
Synonyms
Usage magnitude earthquake · magnitude quake
“As they were heading home on the evening of the 24th, earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck just 39 seconds apart.”
“Search efforts continue though hopes are fading as teams dig for survivors from the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 250 people.”
From Latin magnitūdō (“greatness, size”), magnus + -tūdō.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.