scales 1 of 4

plural of scale
as in balances
a device for measuring weight I hate getting on the bathroom scale

Synonyms & Similar Words

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scales

2 of 4

noun (2)

plural of scale
as in plates
a small thin piece of material that resembles an animal scale scales of mica were embedded in the granite

Synonyms & Similar Words

scales

3 of 4

noun (3)

plural of scale

scales

4 of 4

verb

present tense third-person singular of scale

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of scales
Noun
By extending this concept to a nanoscale particle, the Tokyo team has created a new platform to explore how quantum laws apply at scales larger than atoms but still far smaller than everyday objects. Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 19 Sep. 2025 The scales are tipping, but in a way that’s fair and balanced. Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 18 Sep. 2025 The scales have tipped, everyone is in, though some skeptics remain. Lawrence Wintermeyer, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025 The book features a character who weighs a dying man in a chamber, and finds that the weight on the scales drops with his death. Leah Hudson, Popular Science, 18 Sep. 2025 The Libra balanced scales also teach us that relating is a paradox. Colin Bedell, Them., 17 Sep. 2025 The figure actually tells time with its arms, pointing to retrograde scales suspended inside its glass dome, which is also decorated with constellations. Justin Fenner, Robb Report, 16 Sep. 2025 Tails are notoriously hard to walk in, so seek out a pair of leggings patterned with fish scales. Ella Cerón, Parents, 16 Sep. 2025 And part of it was that face, the sort of Adonis-like mug that tips the scales from handsome to outright pretty. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 16 Sep. 2025
Verb
Rather than owning hardware for such peaks, many AI-native companies are increasingly relying on cloud infrastructure that scales instantly, stretching across regions and edge locations based on data proximity and latency needs. Vincentas Grinius, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025 Models of star formation suggest the size of the jets scales with the size of the star producing them. Keith Cooper, Space.com, 11 Sep. 2025 The team is rounded out by Asia Stocchi, who takes on distribution and development coordination duties as the company scales up operations. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 6 Sep. 2025 And as the crypto ecosystem scales further, the absence of these protections will become increasingly consequential. Mark R. Weaver, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Aug. 2025 The Pixel 10’s screen offers a resolution of 2,424 by 1,080 pixels, a refresh rate that scales from 60Hz to 120Hz, and brightness levels up to 2,000 nits (HDR) and 3,000 nits (peak). PC Magazine, 26 Aug. 2025 DiLoCoX pioneers a number of novel techniques, including pipeline parallelism, adaptive gradient compression, one-step-delay communication overlaps and local training, to create a decentralized AI training environment that scales to unprecedented heights. Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 22 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scales
Verb
  • Graduation – This measures the percentage of students who graduated within four and five years of entering high school.
    Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 15 Sep. 2025
  • This measures the percentage of students who graduated within four and five years of entering high school.
    Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The diffusion index in the jobs report gauges the concentration of growth.
    Jason Ma, Fortune, 7 Sep. 2025
  • In business, profit margins are a performance metric that gauges the extent to which businesses are making money, similar to how the number of games a baseball team leads its division by determines its standing.
    Mark LaSota, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Scales.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scales. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.

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