millisecond

noun

mil·​li·​sec·​ond ˈmi-lə-ˌse-kənd 

-kənt

: one thousandth of a second

Did you know?

A millisecond isn't long enough for the blink of an eye, but a few milliseconds may determine the winner of a swim race or a hundred-yard dash. With the ever-increasing speed of modern technology, even a millisecond has started to seem a little sluggish; computer operations are now measured in nanoseconds—that is, billionths of a second.

Examples of millisecond in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Learning the mechanics involved analyzing more than 75 videos of people doing manu jumps, then taking lab members to Georgia Tech’s pool to do more than 50 trial jumps, all filmed in high definition to capture exactly what their bodies were doing at each millisecond. —Elizabeth Weise, USA Today, 22 May 2025

An input lag of 4.6 milliseconds in the TV's dedicated Game mode is speedy enough for twitch reflexes, and the panel refreshes at 120Hz and supports variable refresh rates. —K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 20 May 2025

Global payment networks validate credit card transactions in milliseconds across hundreds of countries using Java applications. —Scott Sellers, Forbes.com, 13 May 2025

Institutions that once reconciled data overnight now respond in milliseconds. —Murugan Lakshmanan, Forbes.com, 8 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

International Scientific Vocabulary

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for millisecond

• femtosecond
• microsecond
• nanosecond
• picosecond
• beckoned
• reckoned
• second
• seconde

Kids Definition

millisecond

noun

mil·​li·​sec·​ond ˈmil-ə-ˌsek-ənd 

 also  -ənt

: one thousandth of a second

Medical Definition

millisecond

noun

mil·​li·​sec·​ond ˈmil-ə-ˌsek-ənd, -ənt 

: one thousandth of a second

—abbreviation ms, msec