nanometer

noun

nano·​me·​ter ˈna-nə-ˌmē-tər How to pronounce nanometer (audio)
: one billionth of a meter

Examples of nanometer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The infrared panels are 660 nanometers which is powerful enough to potentially penetrate the skin and stimulate cell repair. Omaid Homayun, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025 The patch was created by combining nanophotonics technology, which manipulates light at the nanometer scale (one-hundred-thousandth the thickness of a human hair) to read molecular properties, with microfluidics technology, which precisely controls sweat in channels thinner than a hair. Hannah Millington, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Sep. 2025 From this research, Motiva created its unique surface, which features depressions (approximately 16,000 nanometers in depth) that are the smallest available, according to a study published in the journal Case Reports in Plastic Surgery & Hand Surgery. Megan McIntyre, Allure, 16 Sep. 2025 Additionally, a 15-second application produced 10-nanometer-thick, uniform channels. Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 14 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for nanometer

Word History

Etymology

International Scientific Vocabulary

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of nanometer was in 1963

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Nanometer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nanometer. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.

Kids Definition

nanometer

noun
nano·​meter
ˈnan-ə-ˌmēt-ər
: one billionth of a meter

Medical Definition

nanometer

noun
nano·​me·​ter
variants or chiefly British nanometre
: one billionth of a meter
abbreviation nm

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