kilometer
noun
How do you pronounce kilometer?: Usage Guide
In North American speech kilometer is most often pronounced with primary stress on the second syllable. This pronunciation is also heard frequently in British speech. Those who object to second syllable stress say that the first syllable should be stressed in accord with the stress patterns of centimeter, millimeter, etc. However, the pronunciation of kilometer does not parallel that of other metric compounds. From 1828 to 1841 Noah Webster indicated only second syllable stress, and his successor added a first syllable stress variant in the first Merriam-Webster dictionary of 1847. Thus, both pronunciations are venerable. Most scientists use second syllable stress, although first syllable stress seems to occur with a higher rate of frequency among scientists than among nonscientists.
Did you know?
A kilometer is equal to about 62/100 of a mile, and a mile is equal to about 1.61 kilometers. The U.S. has been slow to adopt metric measures, which are used almost everywhere else in the world. Though our car speedometers are often marked in both miles and kilometers, the U.S. and Great Britain are practically the only developed nations that still show miles rather than kilometers on their road signs. But even in the U.S., footraces are usually measured in meters or kilometers, like the Olympic races. Runners normally abbreviate kilometer to K: "a 5K race" (3.1 miles), "the 10K run" (6.2 miles), and so on.
Examples of kilometer in a Sentence
Marcia Dunn, Chicago Tribune, 4 Apr. 2026
Over the past week, Ukrainian drones have struck Russian fuel tanks and ammunition depots some 100 kilometers (65 miles) from the front lines in Luhansk, as well as a Russian air defense system more than 130 kilometers from the region’s border, according to geolocated video.
—Tim Lister, CNN Money, 4 Apr. 2026
Although some astronauts orbited the moon much closer to the surface than the crew will pass, their greater distance—about 4,000 miles (6,000 kilometers) above the moon—offers a different perspective and could provide more context for their observations, Young says.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 4 Apr. 2026
The attack sparked a fire at a warehouse facility of an unspecified logistics company, and another fire on a dry-cargo vessel flying a foreign flag several kilometers from the shore, Slyusar said.
—CBS News, 4 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for kilometer
Cite this Entry
“Kilometer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kilometer. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
kilometer
noun
kil-ˈäm-
Medical Definition
kilometer
noun
