nanometer

noun

nano·​me·​ter ˈna-nə-ˌmē-tər How to pronounce nanometer (audio)
: one billionth of a meter

Examples of nanometer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
An atom of silicon is 0.21 nanometers wide, for example. Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 12 Oct. 2024 Martin Bachmann, an immunologist at the University of Bern, has argued that VLPs for SAR-CoV-2 could space spike molecules more closely—about 5 nanometers apart—than the virus itself. Byjon Cohen, science.org, 11 Oct. 2024 Because a nanometer is 10 to the power of -9, or one billionth, of a meter. John Werner, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024 Kazansky’s team used ultra-fast lasers to inscribe the human genome data into voids as small as 20 nanometers (a nanometer is about one-billionth of a meter). Rosa Rahimi, CNN, 20 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for nanometer 

Word History

Etymology

International Scientific Vocabulary

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of nanometer was in 1963

Dictionary Entries Near nanometer

Cite this Entry

“Nanometer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nanometer. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

nanometer

noun
nano·​meter
ˈnan-ə-ˌmēt-ər
: one billionth of a meter

Medical Definition

nanometer

noun
nano·​me·​ter
variants or chiefly British nanometre
: one billionth of a meter
abbreviation nm

More from Merriam-Webster on nanometer

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