magnitude
6 synonyms and 0 antonyms for magnitude, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The size, scale, or importance of something.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
How to use magnitude
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Etymology
From Latin magnitudo, "greatness", built from magnus, "great".
Full origin of magnitude →Frequently asked questions
What does “magnitude” mean?
The word “magnitude” means the size, scale, or importance of something. In plain terms, how big, strong, or significant something is — often used for disasters, problems, earthquakes, and star brightness.
How do you pronounce “magnitude”?
“Magnitude” is pronounced MAG-niht-yood (/ˈmæɡnɪtjuːd/ in IPA).
How do you use “magnitude” in a sentence?
Here is “magnitude” used in a sentence: “Officials are only now grasping the magnitude of the disaster.”
What part of speech is “magnitude”?
“Magnitude” is a noun.
Where does the word “magnitude” come from?
The word “magnitude” comes from Latin. From Latin magnitudo, "greatness", built from magnus, "great".
Is “magnitude” a common word?
“Magnitude” is a fairly common word in modern English.
How many meanings does “magnitude” have?
“Magnitude” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: the size, scale, or importance of something.
What is the difference between the magnitude and the intensity of an earthquake?
Magnitude is a single number on a scale that measures how strong the earthquake itself is at its source. Intensity measures how strongly the shaking is felt, and how much damage it causes, at a particular place, so it varies from location to location. One earthquake has one magnitude but many different intensities.
In astronomy, does a higher magnitude mean a brighter star?
No, the scale runs the opposite way to what most people expect. In astronomy, magnitude measures how bright a star or other object appears, and lower numbers mean brighter objects; the very brightest objects have negative magnitudes. A star of magnitude 1 therefore appears much brighter than a star of magnitude 6.
Is magnitude just a formal word for size?
In everyday use, largely yes: magnitude refers to the size, scale, or importance of something, as in "the magnitude of the task," and it belongs to a formal register. It also has technical senses, as the number measuring an earthquake's strength and the scale of a star's apparent brightness, where no plainer word substitutes.