magnitude Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun the property of relative size or extent (whether large or small)
- they tried to predict the magnitude of the explosion
- about the magnitude of a small pea
noun a number assigned to the ratio of two quantities; two quantities are of the same order of magnitude if one is less than 10 times as large as the other; the number of magnitudes that the quantities differ is specified to within a power of 10
order of magnitude.
noun relative importance
- a problem of the first magnitude

L. magnitudo, from magnus great. See Master, and cf. Maxim.

Extent of dimensions; size; -- applied to things that have length, breath, and thickness.
Conceive those particles of bodies to be so disposed amongst themselves, that the intervals of empty spaces between them may be equal in magnitude to them all. Sir I. Newton.
(Geom.) That which has one or more of the three dimensions, length, breadth, and thickness.
Anything of which greater or less can be predicated, as time, weight, force, and the like.
Greatness; grandeur. "With plain, heroic magnitude of mind." Milton.
Greatness, in reference to influence or effect; importance; as, an affair of magnitude.
The magnitude of his designs. Bp. Horsley.
the difference in actual brightness between magnitudes is now specified as a factor of 2.512, i.e. the difference in brightness is 100 for stars differing by five magnitudes.