LENGTH | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of length in English lengthnoun uk /leŋθ/ us /leŋθ/

length noun (DISTANCE)

Add to word list Add to word list B1 [ C or U ] the measurement of something from end to end or along its longest side: in length The boat is ten metres in length.length of The length of the bay is approximately 200 miles.along the length of She planted rose bushes along the length of the fence (= the whole distance along it). [ C ] a piece of something such as string or pipe: length of a length of rope [ C ] a unit used in describing the distance by which a horse or boat wins a race, equal to the measurement from one end of the horse or boat to the other: We won by two lengths. [ C ] the distance from one end of a swimming pool to the other: She swims 40 lengths a day. [ C or U ]   sports   specialized in cricket, the distance that the ball travels before it bounces after it has been bowled (= thrown to the batter): He needs to bring his length back a bit as he's getting driven too much. I was deceived by the length of the delivery which was much fuller than I had expected.

• The impact of the crash reduced the car to a third of its original length.
• Application forms vary greatly in layout and length.
• The metre is the standard unit for measuring length in the SI system.
• The mountains stretch the entire length of the country.
• Dad, I swam a whole length of the pool underwater!

Measurements in general

• along the length of something
• aspect
• bathymetric
• bathymetrically
• bathymetry
• be running at something idiom
• calibre
• chunky
• cubic
• depth
• measurable
• measure
• micro
• mismeasurement
• non-dimensional
• non-measurable
• pico-
• ply
• scale
• stopping distance

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Words meaning small pieces and amounts Swimming Cricket

length noun (TIME)

B2 [ C ] the amount of time something lasts: the length of a film/speech/playin length Workshops run from one and a half hours to four hours in length.length of time He is unable to concentrate on his work for any length of time (= for anything more than a short time). Synonym duration C1 [ C or U ] the amount of writing in a book or document: He's written books of various lengths on the subject. All of your essays will be about the same length.in length Each report was accompanied by a list of items, several hundred pages in length.  at length C2 for a long time: at great length George went on at great length about his various illnesses. formal If something happens at length, it happens after a long period of time: At length, the authorities allowed her to go home. See more

• Application forms vary greatly in layout and length.
• The children are too young for a movie of that length.
• How can it take that length of time to get dressed?
• I can't believe the length of time they spend chatting!
• I asked him to cut the length of his speech.

Measurements in general

• along the length of something
• aspect
• bathymetric
• bathymetrically
• bathymetry
• be running at something idiom
• calibre
• chunky
• cubic
• depth
• measurable
• measure
• micro
• mismeasurement
• non-dimensional
• non-measurable
• pico-
• ply
• scale
• stopping distance

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Periods of time - general words

Grammar

MeasurementsWe use the nouns length, width, depth and height and the adjectives long, wide, deep and high to talk about area and size: … Area: length, width, depth and heightWe use the nouns length, width, depth and height and the adjectives long, wide, deep and high to talk about area and size: … Weight and volumeWe use the verb weigh to measure weight: … Frequency, speed, timeWe use many different expressions to describe frequency, speed and time. Here are some of them: …

Idioms

go to great lengths the length and breadth of somewhere -lengthsuffix uk / -leŋθ/ us / -leŋθ/

-length suffix (DISTANCE)

long enough to reach the stated place: a knee-length skirt shoulder-length hair Measurements of length & distance

• centimetre
• cubit
• decimetre
• ell
• extend to something
• feet
• food miles
• ft
• league
• linear
• micrometre
• mileage
• millimetre
• mph
• nanometre
• pace
• reach
• square
• width
• wingspan

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Measurements in general

-length suffix (TIME)

of the stated amount of time: a full-length movie (= one which has not been shortened) Measurements in general

• along the length of something
• aspect
• bathymetric
• bathymetrically
• bathymetry
• be running at something idiom
• calibre
• chunky
• cubic
• depth
• measurable
• measure
• micro
• mismeasurement
• non-dimensional
• non-measurable
• pico-
• ply
• scale
• stopping distance

See more results » (Definition of length from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

length | American Dictionary

lengthnoun us /leŋkθ, leŋθ/

length noun (DISTANCE)

Add to word list Add to word list [ C/U ] the measurement of something from end to end or along its longest side, or a measurement of a particular part of something: [ C ] a length of rope [ U ] The boat is 20 feet in length. [ C/U ] The length of a piece of writing, such as a book or story, is a measure of the material it contains: [ U ] The length of the poem was 30 lines.

length noun (TIME)

[ U ] an amount of time: The movie is nearly three hours in length. George went on about his illnesses at great/some length (= for a long time). (Definition of length from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Collocations with length

length

These are words often used in combination with length.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

length contractionThis requires that length contraction and time dilation have the exact relativistic values. From Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.   length of follow-upHowever, when data were adjusted for length of follow-up, this effect disappeared. From the Cambridge English Corpus   length of pipeBut not one extra length of pipe is to be provided. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0   These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. See all collocations with length What is the pronunciation of length, -length?

Translations of length

in Chinese (Traditional) 距離, 長，長度, 條，根… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 距离, 长，长度, 条，根… See more in Spanish longitud, duración, longitud [feminine… See more in Portuguese comprimento, pedaço, corpo de diferença… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian लांबी, तुकडा, एखादी गोष्ट किती वेळ… See more （物の）長さ, （時間の）長さ, 長（なが）さ… See more uzunluk, boy, süre… See more longueur [feminine], durée [feminine], morceau [masculine]… See more llargada, durada… See more lengte, duur, stuk… See more ஒரு பொருளின் முடிவு முதல் முடிவு வரை அல்லது அதன் நீளமான பக்கத்தில் அளவிடுதல், சரம் அல்லது குழாய் போன்ற ஒன்றின் ஒரு துண்டு, ஏதோ ஒன்று நீடிக்கும் கால அளவு… See more (किसी चीज़ की एक सिरे से दूसरे सिरे तक की) लंबाई, (रस्सी या पाइप जैसी किसी चीज़ का) टुकड़ा, (किसी चीज़ की समय की) अवधि… See more લંબાઈ, કોઈ વસ્તુના ટુકડાની જેમ કે દોરડું અથવા નળી કે ભૂંગળીની લંબાઈ, સમયગાળો… See more længde, stykke… See more längd, stycke… See more panjang, tempoh, jarak panjang… See more die Länge, das Stück… See more lengden [masculine], lengde [masculine], varighet [masculine]… See more لمبائی, لمبائی (ڈور اور پائپ جسی چیزوں کے سیاق میں), طوالت… See more довжина, відрізок, шматок… See more మొదటినుండి చివరి వరకు దేనిదైనా కొలత లేదా దాని పొడవైన వైపున కొలత, తీగ లేదా పైపు వంటిదాని భాగం, నిడివి/ఏదైనా నిలిచిఉండే కాల వ్యవధి… See more দৈর্ঘ্য, লম্বা, একটি বই বা নথিতে লেখার পরিমাণ… See more délka, kus… See more panjang, sepotong, ukuran panjang… See more ระยะห่าง, ความยาว… See more chiều dài, độ dài, chung cuộc… See more długość, kawałek, sztuka… See more 길이, (시간)길이… See more lunghezza, durata, taglio… See more Need a translator?

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lender of last resort lending lending library lending rate length length between perpendiculars BETA length of time length overall BETA lengthen {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of length

• three-quarter length
• in length
• arc length
• calf-length
• full-length
• head length
• knee-length

See all meanings

• at length phrase
• at arm’s length idiom
• keep someone at arm's length idiom
• stretch the length of something idiom
• the length and breadth of somewhere idiom

See all idioms and phrases

Word of the Day

fraternize

UK /ˈfræt.ə.naɪz/ US /ˈfræt̬.ɚ.naɪz/

to meet someone socially, especially someone who belongs to an opposing army or team, or has a different social position

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• English   
  • Noun 
    • length (DISTANCE)
    • length (TIME)
    • at length
  • Suffix 
    • -length (DISTANCE)
    • -length (TIME)
• American   
  • Noun 
    • length (DISTANCE)
    • length (TIME)
• Collocations

• Translations
• Grammar
• All translations

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