odometer

noun

odom·​e·​ter ō-ˈdä-mə-tər 

: an instrument for measuring the distance traveled (as by a vehicle)

Did you know?

Odometer includes the root from the Greek word hodos, meaning "road" or "trip". An odometer shares space on your dashboard with a speedometer, a tachometer, and maybe a "tripmeter". The odometer is what crooked car salesmen tamper with when they want to reduce the mileage a car registers as having traveled. One of life's little pleasures is watching the odometer as all the numbers change at the same time.

Examples of odometer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Buyers should also run a title check before signing a bill of sale to confirm a used car’s odometer reading and service history and to determine whether it’s been in a serious wreck or flood and has been rebuilt and offered with a salvaged title. —Jim Gorzelany, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025

So this truck has had four owners since it was restored 22 years ago and has a total of 4,700 miles on the odometer. —David Krumboltz, The Mercury News, 18 Feb. 2025

Then the murder investigation led police to unrelated evidence of wrongdoing at Michael Warren’s car rental agency, and in 1992 he was sentenced to prison on 43 counts of odometer tampering, grand theft and racketeering, The Palm Beach Post reported at the time. —Mirna Alsharif, NBC News, 3 Nov. 2024

As the odometer shows, the Shelby Mustang gave some driving enjoyment, too. Click here for more photos of the 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500. —Erik Shilling, Robb Report, 10 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

French odomètre, from Greek hodometron, from hodos way, road + metron measure — more at measure

First Known Use

1791, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for odometer

• barometer
• bolometer
• chronometer
• geometer
• hydrometer
• hygrometer
• kilometer
• micrometer
• photometer
• psychrometer
• pycnometer
• pyrometer

Kids Definition

odometer

noun

odom·​e·​ter ō-ˈdäm-ət-ər 

: an instrument for measuring distance traveled (as by a vehicle)