altimeter

noun

al·​tim·​e·​ter al-ˈti-mə-tər  ˈal-tə-ˌmē-tər 

: an instrument for measuring altitude

especially : an aneroid barometer designed to register changes in atmospheric pressure accompanying changes in altitude

altimetry

al-ˈti-mə-trē 

noun

Examples of altimeter in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For the second mission in a row, the lander's altimeter failed. —Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 13 Mar. 2025

Odysseus' faulty laser altimeter, used to determine its distance from the ground, broke a lander leg and caused the spacecraft to topple over. —Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2025

The Odysseus lander was supposed to use a laser altimeter to help guide it to the moon’s surface. —Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2025

Serious questions have yet to be answered about the helicopter’s altimeters. —Gary Fields, Los Angeles Times, 15 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, from Latin altus "high" + -i- -i- + New Latin -meter -meter — more at altitude

Note: The word altimeter appears in the word lists of early Latin-English dictionaries, as the 1572 edition of Richard Huloet's dictionary and the 1578 edition of Thomas Cooper's Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae (defined as "an instrument wherwith high things are mette"). These entries all appear to derive from versions of Papias' Latin dictionary Elementarium doctrinae rudimentum, composed in the 11th century, but reedited and expanded many times; the 1485 Venice edition enters "altimeter quo metiuntur altitudines - quoddam instrumentum est" ("altimeter by which heights are measured; it is a certain instrument"). Cf. New Latin scala altimetra, with vernacular equivalents, as Middle French eschelle altimetre, applied to the graduated scale of various instruments for measuring angular distance above the horizon. As a word used in the early 20th century for instruments employing barometric pressure to measure altitude, the word may be a recoinage from Latin altus and -meter.

First Known Use

1904, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for altimeter

• collimator
• delimiter
• dosimeter
• estimator
• lysimeter
• perimeter
• calorimeter
• colorimeter
• polarimeter
• limiter

Kids Definition

altimeter

noun

al·​tim·​e·​ter al-ˈtim-ət-ər  ˈal-tə-ˌmēt-ər 

: an instrument for measuring altitude

especially : a barometer that registers changes in atmospheric pressure accompanying changes in altitude