dimension

See also: Dimension and dimensión

English

Etymology

From Latin dīmēnsiō.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /daɪˈmɛnʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪˈmɛnʃən/, /daɪˈmɛnʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnʃən

Noun

dimension (plural dimensions)

1. A single aspect of a given thing.

   This film can be enjoyed on many dimensions - the script is great, the acting is realistic, and the special effects will simply take you aback.

2. A measure of spatial extent in a particular direction, such as height, width or breadth, or depth.
   • 1992, Douglas Adams, chapter 17, in Mostly Harmless (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), page 150:

     I can tell you that in your universe you move freely in three dimensions that you call space. […] After that it gets a bit complicated, and there's all sort of stuff going on in dimensions thirteen to twenty-two that you really wouldn't want to know about.

   • 2012 January, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 14 November 2012, page 23:

     We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.

3. A construct whereby objects or individuals can be distinguished.
4. (geometry) The number of independent coordinates needed to specify uniquely the location of a point in a space; also, any of such independent coordinates.
5. (linear algebra) The number of elements of any basis of a vector space.
6. (physics) One of the physical properties that are regarded as fundamental measures of a physical quantity, such as mass, length and time.

   The dimension of velocity is length divided by time.

7. (computing) Any of the independent ranges of indices in a multidimensional array.
8. (science fiction, fantasy) A universe or plane of existence.

   a machine that lets you travel to a parallel dimension.

   • 1938 July, L. Ron Hubbard, “The Dangerous Dimension”, in Astounding Science-Fiction‎^[2], volume XXI, number 5, Street & Smith, →OCLC, page 105:

     "If a man should wish to be in some other place, it is entirely possible for him to imagine himself in that place and, diving back through the negative dimension, to emerge out of it in that place with instantaneous rapidity. To imagine oneself———"

   • 1988 May 2, Rod Loomis, Michelle Phillips, Gates McFadden, We'll Always Have Paris (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:

     DR. PAUL MANHEIM: I have been on the other side. I have touched another dimension. Part of me is still there.
     LAURA MANHEIM: Help him.
     DR. CRUSHER: Try to stay calm Dr. Manheim. I don't think it's going to help you're struggling against it.
     DR. PAUL MANHEIM: My mind is floating between two places. It is difficult to know which is which. There is no way to explain it.

   • 2016, A.K. Brown, Jumpstart (Champagne Universe Series: Book 1), page 2:

     He was experimenting with matter transportation through the nth dimension.

Synonyms

• (single aspect of a thing): aspect
• (measure of spatial extent): magnitude, proportion, size, scope
• (construct whereby objects or individuals can be distinguished): attribute, property

Derived terms

• 3-D
• 3-dimensional
• 4-dimensional
• box-counting dimension
• codimension
• correlation dimension
• dimensionable
• dimensional
• dimensional analysis
• dimensionality
• dimensional shingle
• dimensionful
• dimensionless
• dimension lumber
• dimension stone
• dimensionwise
• dimension work
• eigendimension
• exterior dimension
• four-dimensional
• fourth dimension
• fractal dimension
• Hamel dimension
• Hausdorff dimension
• Helly dimension
• Iitaka dimension
• information dimension
• isoperimetric dimension
• Kaplan-Yorke dimension
• Krull dimension
• Lebesgue covering dimension
• Lyapunov dimension
• Minkowski-Bouligand dimension
• Minkowski dimension
• multidimensional
• nanodimension
• one-dimensional
• ordinate dimension
• pointwise dimension
• poset dimension
• predimension
• pseudodimension
• q-dimension
• subdimension
• third dimension
• three-dimensional
• transdimensional

 

Related terms

• hyperdimension

Translations

single aspect of a thing

• Bulgarian: аспе́кт (bg) m (aspékt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 方面 (zh) (fāngmiàn), 特點 / 特点 (zh) (tèdiǎn)

• Danish: dimension (da) c, side (da) c, aspekt n
• Finnish: seikka (fi)
• French: dimension (fr) f
• Georgian: ასპექტი (asṗekṭi)
• Greek: διάσταση (el) f (diástasi)
• Hindi: पहलू (hi) m (pahlū)
• Indonesian: matra (id)
• Irish: gné f
• Italian: aspetto (it)
• Polish: wymiar (pl) m
• Romanian: dimensiune (ro) f
• Russian: аспе́кт (ru) n (aspékt)
• Sindhi: پَهلُو (sd) (pahloo)
• Swedish: aspekt (sv) c, dimension (sv) c
• Tagalog: sukod

measure of spatial extent

• Arabic: بُعْد (ar) m (buʕd)
• Belarusian: паме́р m (pamjér)
• Bengali: মাত্রা (bn) (matra)
• Bulgarian: разме́р (bg) m (razmér)
• Catalan: dimensió (ca) f
• Cherokee: ᏂᎦᏅᎯᏒ (niganvhisv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 尺寸 (zh) (chǐcùn)

• Czech: rozměr (cs) m
• Danish: dimension (da) c
• Dutch: dimensie (nl) f, afmeting (nl) f
• Faroese: royvildi n
• Finnish: mitta (fi)
• French: dimension (fr) f
• Galician: dimensión (gl) f
• Georgian: სიდიდე (sidide), ზომა (zoma), მოცულობა (moculoba)
• German: Dimension (de) f
• Greek: διάσταση (el) f (diástasi)
• Hebrew: מֵמַד (he) m (mēmád)
• Hindi: विमा f (vimā), परिमाण (hi) m (parimāṇ), माप (hi) m (māp), मात्रा (hi) f (mātrā), पैमाइश (hi) f (paimāiś), नाप (hi) m (nāp)
• Icelandic: vídd (is) f
• Indonesian: matra (id)
• Irish: toise m
• Italian: dimensione (it) f
• Japanese: 面積 (ja) (めんせき, menseki), 寸法 (ja) (すんぽう, sunpō)
• Korean: 치수 (ko) (chisu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ڕەھەند (ckb) (rrehend)

• Occitan: dimension (oc) f
• Polish: wymiar (pl) m
• Portuguese: dimensão (pt)
• Romanian: dimensiune (ro) f, dimensiuni pl
• Russian: разме́р (ru) m (razmér)
• Sanskrit: परिमाण (sa) n (parimāṇa)
• Scottish Gaelic: tomhas m
• Sindhi: ماپَ (sd) (maapa)
• Slovene: dimenzija f
• Spanish: dimensión (es) f
• Swedish: dimension (sv) c
• Tagalog: sukod
• Ukrainian: ви́мір (uk) m (výmir), ро́змір m (rózmir)
• West Frisian: diminsje c

construct whereby objects or individuals can be distinguished

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: mitta (fi)
• French: dimension (fr) f
• Greek: διάσταση (el) f (diástasi)
• Russian: измере́ние (ru) n (izmerénije)
• Swedish: dimension (sv) c
• Tagalog: sukod

in geometry

• Bulgarian: разме́рност f (razmérnost)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 維數 / 维数 (zh) (wéishù), 維 / 维 (zh) (wéi)

• Czech: rozměr (cs) m, dimenze f
• Danish: dimension (da) c
• Estonian: mõõde
• Faroese: royvildi n
• Finnish: ulottuvuus (fi)
• French: dimension (fr) f
• Georgian: განზომილება (ganzomileba)
• German: Dimension (de) f
• Greek: διάσταση (el) f (diástasi)

  Ancient Greek: διάστασις (diástasis)

• Hindi: विमा f (vimā)
• Indonesian: matra (id)
• Japanese: 次元 (ja) (じげん, jigen), 寸法 (ja) (すんぽう, sunpō)
• Khmer: វិមាត្រ (km) (vimiətrɔɔ)
• Korean: 차원 (ko) (chawon)
• Latin: dimensio
• Malay: dimensi (ms)
• Polish: wymiar (pl) m
• Portuguese: dimensão (pt)
• Romanian: dimensiune (ro) f
• Russian: разме́рность (ru) f (razmérnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: tomhas m
• Slovene: dimenzija f
• Swedish: dimension (sv) c
• Tagalog: sukod
• Thai: มิติ (th) (mí-dtì)
• Turkish: boyut (tr)
• Vietnamese: chiều không gian, chiều (vi)

in physics

• Bulgarian: измере́ние (bg) n (izmerénie)
• Catalan: dimensió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: dimensie (nl) f
• Finnish: ulottuvuus (fi)
• French: dimension (fr) f
• Georgian: განზომილება (ganzomileba)
• German: Dimension (de) f
• Greek: διάσταση (el) f (diástasi)
• Indonesian: matra (id)
• Japanese: 次元 (ja) (じげん, jigen), 寸法 (ja) (すんぽう, sunpō)
• Papiamentu: dimenshon
• Polish: wymiar (pl) m
• Portuguese: dimensão (pt)
• Romanian: dimensiune (ro) f
• Russian: измере́ние (ru) n (izmerénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: tomhas m
• Slovene: dimenzija f
• Swedish: dimension (sv) c
• Tagalog: sukod
• Thai: มิติ (th) (mí-dtì)

in computing

• Bulgarian: измере́ние (bg) n (izmerénie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 維度 / 维度 (zh) (wéidù)

• Czech: rozměr (cs) m
• Finnish: ulottuvuus (fi)
• French: dimension (fr) f
• German: Dimension (de) f
• Greek: διάσταση (el) f (diástasi)
• Japanese: 次元 (ja) (じげん, jigen)
• Korean: 차원 (ko) (chawon)
• Polish: wymiar (pl) m
• Portuguese: dimensão (pt)
• Romanian: dimensiune (ro) f
• Russian: измере́ние (ru) n (izmerénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: tomhas m
• Slovene: dimenzija f
• Swedish: dimension (sv) c
• Tagalog: sukod

in science fiction

• Bulgarian: измерение (bg) n (izmerenie)
• Catalan: dimensió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 次元 (zh) (cìyuán)

• Danish: dimension (da) c
• Finnish: ulottuvuus (fi), dimensio (fi)
• French: dimension (fr) f
• Georgian: განზომილება (ganzomileba)
• German: Dimension (de) f
• Greek: διάσταση (el) f (diástasi)
• Japanese: 次元 (ja) (じげん, jigen), 寸法 (ja) (すんぽう, sunpō)
• Norwegian: dimensjon
• Polish: wymiar (pl) m
• Portuguese: dimensão (pt)
• Romanian: dimensiune (ro) f
• Russian: измере́ние (ru) n (izmerénije)
• Slovene: dimenzija f
• Swedish: dimension (sv) c
• Tagalog: sukod
• Turkish: boyut (tr), evren (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} dimensio
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} dimensi (id)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 차원 (ko) (chawon)

Verb

dimension (third-person singular simple present dimensions, present participle dimensioning, simple past and past participle dimensioned)

1. (transitive) To mark, cut or shape something to specified dimensions.
   • 1911, Walter Winston Kenilworth, Thoughts on Things Psychics‎^[3], page 51:

     Nameless and formless the Spirit within shines forth, unconditioned and everlasting. What name is befitting the soul? How shall Infinite Effulgence be manifested? Too great a light blinds the senses. Too great a truth is too exhilarating for the student. The boundless, infinite Sentience, incomprehensibly dimensioned in Being and Intelligence, rests Unseen and Unthinkable in the shore of His Own omnipresent and superomnipresent consciousness.

   • 1985 November 19, Erik Sandberg-Diment, “PERSONAL COMPUTERS; DESIGNING IS MADE EASY BY AUTOCAD”, in The New York Times‎^[4]:

     The mechanical drawing artist almost automatically lays down a triangle in order to draw a line in the desired place. Data entry for AutoCAD, by contrast, requires you to think in terms of coordinate positions rather than in the customary patterns of dimensioning.

   • 2008 February 21, Alexander Olch, “For the Moment | Dreams Foretold”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[5]:

     Some people muse over real estate listings in the Sunday paper, looking at floor plans for apartments they could never afford, looking at an idea of what their life might be like with a properly dimensioned foyer.

   • 2010 August 11, Jim Robbins, “Portable Housing, Made in Montana”, in The New York Times‎^[6]:

     “The shape seems simple,” Bruce Leep said. “But very precise dimensioning is required. It was difficult to figure out how all of these angles come together.”

2. (transitive, programming) To specify the size of (an array or similar data structure); to allocate.

   Hyponym: redimension

   • 2002, James D. Foxall, Wendy Haro-Chun, SAMS Teach Yourself C# in 24 Hours, page 268:

     Dimension an array to hold only as much data as you intend to put into it.

Translations

to mark, cut or shape something to specified dimensions

• Bulgarian: оразмерявам (orazmerjavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 在……上標尺寸 / 在……上标尺寸 (zài... shàng biāo chǐcùn), 按規格尺寸切割 / 按规格尺寸切割 (àn guīgé chǐcùn qiēgē)

• Finnish: mitoittaa (fi)
• French: dimensionner (fr)
• German: dimensionieren (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dimensjonere

  Nynorsk: dimensjonere, dimensjonera

• Portuguese: dimensão (pt)
• Romanian: dimensiona (ro)
• Swedish: dimensionera (sv)

Anagrams

• minisonde

Danish

Noun

dimension c (singular definite dimensionen, plural indefinite dimensioner)

1. dimension

Declension

Declension of dimension

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	dimension	dimensionen	dimensioner	dimensionerne
genitive	dimensions	dimensionens	dimensioners	dimensionernes

Further reading

• “dimension” in Den Danske Ordbog

Esperanto

Noun

dimension

1. accusative singular of dimensio

Finnish

Noun

dimension

1. genitive singular of dimensio

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin dīmensiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.mɑ̃.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

dimension f (plural dimensions)

1. dimension

Derived terms

• dimensionnel

Further reading

• “dimension”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• mendiions
• ondinisme

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin dīmensio. Attested from the 14th century.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

dimension f (plural dimensions)

1. dimension

Related terms

• dimensional
• dimensionar

Swedish

Noun

dimension c

1. dimension

   Vad har den för dimensioner?

   What are its dimensions?

   Dimension X

   Dimension X

Declension

Declension of dimension

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	dimension	dimensions
	definite	dimensionen	dimensionens
plural	indefinite	dimensioner	dimensioners
	definite	dimensionerna	dimensionernas

Related terms

• dimensionera

References

• dimension in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• dimension in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• dimension in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)