meter
meter — noun
1. An instrument fitted in a home or workplace that shows how much of a supply — fo
An instrument fitted in a home or workplace that shows how much of a supply — for instance gas, electricity, or water — has been consumed.
The gas company sent someone to read the meter outside our house.
collocation: read the meter
Obi checked the electricity meter to see how much power the factory had used overnight.
A smart meter sends usage data directly to the utility company every hour.
The old water meter broke last winter, so the bill was based on an estimate.
Min installed a solar meter on the roof to track her panels' energy output.
- gauge
A gauge shows a measurement at a point in time (like a pressure gauge); a meter typically tracks and records usage over time.
- counter
A counter records a running total (e.g., a hit counter); a meter can show both instantaneous rate and total usage.
- reader
Less common as a noun for the device itself; usually refers to the person or the handheld device used to collect the reading.
用法筆記
Most commonly paired with a specific resource name: gas meter, electricity meter, water meter. A smart meter sends readings automatically; an older meter must be read by a person.
常見錯誤
2. The equipment fitted inside a taxi that calculates how far the passenger has tra
The equipment fitted inside a taxi that calculates how far the passenger has travelled and how long the journey took, then shows the fare owed.
The taxi driver started the meter as soon as we got into the car.
collocation: start the meter
By the time Nikos reached the airport, the meter showed a fare of 850 dollars.
Heloísa asked the driver to turn off the meter while they waited.
The fare on the meter was far higher than what the driver had quoted.
- taximeter
The formal technical name for the device; rarely used in everyday conversation.
- fare meter
Less common; emphasizes the cost display rather than the distance measurement.
用法筆記
Used almost exclusively in the context of taxis and rideshare vehicles. The phrase 'the meter is running' is also used figuratively to mean that costs are accumulating.
3. In US English, the way to spell the metric standard for measuring length — it eq
In US English, the way to spell the metric standard for measuring length — it equals one hundred centimetres, or roughly thirty-nine inches.
The swimming pool at the sports centre is 25 meters long.
Christopher needed a three-meter-long cable for his new computer desk.
The tallest building in the city stands over 300 meters high.
A student at the school sports day ran the 100-meter dash in under twelve seconds.
The apartment has a floor area of about 75 square meters.
- m (abbreviation)
The standard written abbreviation for meter, used in measurements (e.g., 100 m).
用法筆記
In British English the same word is spelled 'metre'. Both spellings share the same pronunciation. The compound adjective form uses a hyphen and singular: a ten-meter rope (not 'ten-meters rope').
常見錯誤
4. The ordering of stressed and unstressed syllables within a poetic line, or the g
The ordering of stressed and unstressed syllables within a poetic line, or the grouping of accented and unaccented beats in a piece of music.
Indra studied the meter of Shakespeare's sonnets for her English literature exam.
The poem's gentle iambic meter gave it a flowing rhythm when Kabir read it aloud.
pattern: iambic meter (common poetic type)
In music class the students practised clapping to a steady 4/4 meter.
The jazz piece shifted between 3/4 and 5/4 meter, making it tricky to follow.
- rhythm
A broader term covering any pattern of movement or sound; meter is specifically the structured, regular pattern of beats or stresses.
- time signature
In music notation, the time signature (e.g., 4/4) specifies the meter.
- foot
A poetic foot is a single unit of stressed and unstressed syllables; meter is built from repeated feet.
用法筆記
In poetry, common types include iambic meter (unstressed + stressed), trochaic meter (stressed + unstressed), and anapestic meter (two unstressed + one stressed). In music, meter is expressed as a time signature such as 4/4 or 3/4.
常見錯誤
meter — verb
1. To use a meter to check how much of a utility supply — for instance natural gas,
To use a meter to check how much of a utility supply — for instance natural gas, electrical power, or tap water — a home or business has consumed.
The building now meters each apartment's water usage separately to encourage conservation.
pattern: meter + noun phrase (what is measured)
Élise's family installed a device that meters their electricity consumption hour by hour.
The city council started metering all public buildings to track energy efficiency improvements.
Otis's landlord decided to meter the heating costs after tenants complained about unfair bills.
- measure
General term; metering is specifically about using a meter device to track usage over time.
- gauge
To gauge is to estimate or judge an amount, often without a precise instrument; metering implies precise measurement by a device.
- quantify
More formal; to quantify is to express an amount as a number, not necessarily using a physical meter.
文法句型
meter + noun phrase
用法筆記
Often used in the passive (is metered, are metered) when describing how a resource is measured. The object is typically a utility resource (water, gas, electricity, heat) rather than the meter itself.
常見錯誤
meter — noun
1. A word element added to the end of a noun to indicate an instrument that measure
A word element added to the end of a noun to indicate an instrument that measures the thing named by the first part of the word — for example, a thermometer measures heat, a speedometer measures speed, and a barometer measures air pressure.
The nurse placed a thermometer under Noa's tongue to check for a fever.
The speedometer on Jenna's dashboard showed that she was driving at 110 kilometers per hour.
A barometer helps meteorologists meter changes in air pressure before a storm arrives.
An odometer records the total distance a vehicle has travelled since it was built.
The rain gauge in the garden, called a pluviometer, collected 15 millimeters of water overnight.
文法句型
[-meter] at end of compound nouns
用法筆記
This combining form is not a standalone word — it always appears as the second part of a compound noun (thermometer, speedometer, barometer, odometer, voltmeter). The first part typically names what is being measured (thermo- = heat, speed, baro- = pressure, od- = road/journey). Some of these words use the variant spelling '-meter' (US) or '-metre' (UK) but the meaning is the same.