metric1
/ˈmɛtrɪk
/adjective
1Relating to or based on the metre as a unit of length: all measurements are given in metric form...
- Each color has its own wavelength, from dark red, which has the longest wavelength, to violet, which has the shortest wavelength, expressed in metric units of length.
- Most metric recipes were based on a weight unit of 25 grams - slightly less than an ounce - and a liquid measure of half a litre, which was slightly less than a pint.
- This system contains most of the metric units you are used to, like meters and kilograms, but also includes units for many other physical and engineering properties.
1.1Relating to or using the metric system: we should have gone metric years ago
2 Mathematics & Physics Relating to or denoting a metric: the metric equation of Minkowski space-time...
- Progress was being made in that gravitation was described for the first time by the metric tensor but still the theory was not right.
- The relationship is precisely specified by the most profound equation of STR, usually called the metric equation (or line metric equation).
- Isoperi metric problems have been a source of important mathematical ideas and techniques since classical antiquity.
noun
1 technical A system or standard of measurement: the levels of branching are arbitrary and no precise metric is applied to distance between the nodes...
- This means that worst-case measurements of system metrics are the only thing that matters to a hard real-time application, because these are the cases that cause a missed deadline.
- That loss can be measured using standard metrics of compensating variation, equivalent variation, or consumer surplus using national demand functions.
- The two standard metrics for information retrieval are relevance and retrieval, i.e. what percentage of all the good stuff you get back.
1.1 (metrics) (In business) a set of figures or statistics that measure results.Substituting low-quality performance metrics for value metrics represents a step in the wrong direction....
- We see an up tick in the metrics we use to evaluate the amount of potential business in our pipeline.
- Finally, abandoning value metrics is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
1.2 Mathematics & Physics A binary function of a topological space which gives, for any two points of the space, a value equal to the distance between them, or to a value treated as analogous to distance for the purpose of analysis: [with modifier]: the external structure of space-time is described by the Schwarzschild metric...
- A Banach space is a real or complex normed vector space that is complete as a metric space under the metric induced by the norm.
- Weyl opened the way to the conformal differential geometry of Riemannian spaces in which one studies the properties of the spaces invariant under the so-called conformal transformation of the Riemannian metric.
- We conclude that a trend analysis of median comet metrics from repeated experiments at different stress levels is certainly an efficient way to statistically demonstrate a genotoxic effect.
2 [mass noun] informal The metric system: it’s easier to work in metric...
- They use metric here in Japan, though, so ‘centimeters towards meaningful democracy’ would be more correct, but in reality the change is closer to micrometric.
- I found myself constantly doing the mental trick I did in Austraila, where in my head, I pre-scan every word I am about to say, looking for any mentions of numerical data that would have to be converted to metric.
- Like the inhabitants of small villages in Surrey, I don't do metric.
Origin
Mid 19th century (as an adjective relating to length): from French métrique, from mètre (see metre1).
Rhymes
metric2
/ˈmɛtrɪk/adjective
Relating to or composed in a poetic metre: the public recitation of metric, rhyming verse...
- Humor raises no such difficulty, for it is a purely formal device, more akin to the metric pattern of verse than to that of a trope.
- I opted for freedom, though on many occasions continuing to use familiar metric forms, but rejuvenated within the iridescent world of metaphor.
- Also painfully absent is any discussion of the poetry, of the metric and formal characteristics of these texts, their historic or social changes, or their regional idiosyncrasies.
noun
The metre of a poem.Here, as in Harper's later volumes, musical rhythm replaces traditional metrics in the poetry without sacrificing craft....
- This feature was reflected in the development of Anglo-Irish metrics and was first felt through the rhythms of folksongs.
- What Pound did in this text was to construct a Well-Tempered Prosody to exercise his mastery of metrics and diction.
Origin
Late 15th century (denoting the branch of study dealing with metre): via Latin from Greek metrikos, from metron (see metre2).