stopwatch

noun

stop·​watch ˈstäp-ˌwäch How to pronounce stopwatch (audio)
: a watch with a hand or a digital display that can be started and stopped at will for exact timing (as of a race)

Examples of stopwatch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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These recommendations have become more accurate as teams have gone from stopwatches and handheld engine thermometers to in-car sensors that produce 1.1 million data points per second. Chris Hawes, CNBC, 28 Oct. 2024 The desk clock also lacks a stopwatch and a chime that rings at the top of each hour but adds features not found on Casio’s basic digital watches like a thermometer and a humidity sensor. Andrew Liszewski, The Verge, 9 Oct. 2024 As the season unfolded, Ohtani took particular interest in trying to identify such cues himself, sometimes reviewing video in the dugout with a stopwatch in hand. Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2024 At the 1932 Los Angeles Games, a single Omega watchmaker traveled from Switzerland with a suitcase of 30 stopwatches, each equipped with a split-second hand that could be stopped independently to measure split times while the race timing continued—producing accurate times for all competitors. Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for stopwatch 

Word History

First Known Use

1737, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of stopwatch was in 1737

Dictionary Entries Near stopwatch

Cite this Entry

“Stopwatch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stopwatch. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

stopwatch

noun
stop·​watch ˈstäp-ˌwäch How to pronounce stopwatch (audio)
: a watch having a hand or a digital display that can be started and stopped for exact timing (as of a race)

More from Merriam-Webster on stopwatch

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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