# dimension

Pronunciation: US say "di-MEN-shuhn" /dɪˈmɛn.ʃən/; UK say "dy-MEN-shuhn" /daɪˈmɛn.ʃən/

## Noun

1. A measure of how far something extends in a particular direction, such as its height, width, or depth.
   - Simple: How far something reaches in one direction, like its height, width, or depth.
   - _Engineers recorded every dimension of the component to the nearest millimeter._
   - _The sculpture's vertical dimension exceeds three meters._
2. A particular aspect or facet of something.
   - Simple: One part or side of something, like one way of looking at it.
   - _The report explores the social dimension of the new policy._
   - _Trust adds another dimension to any close friendship._
3. A separate universe or plane of existence, especially in works of fiction.
   - Simple: A separate world or reality, often found in stories and games.
   - _The portal opened onto a dimension where time flowed backward._
   - _Each dimension in the saga has its own laws of magic._
4. The number of independent coordinates needed to pinpoint a location in a space, or any one of those coordinates.
   - Simple: The number of separate directions needed to find a point in space.
   - _A point on a map needs two dimensions to locate it precisely._
   - _Adding height gives the model a third dimension._
5. One of the fundamental physical properties (such as mass, length, or time) used to measure a physical quantity.
   - Simple: A basic kind of measurement, such as length, mass, or time.
   - _Every derived unit is built from a few base dimensions such as length and time._
   - _Pressure is not a fundamental dimension but a combination of several._
6. A characteristic or attribute by which objects or individuals can be told apart.
   - Simple: A feature you can use to tell things or people apart.
   - _Researchers added income as a new dimension for classifying households._
   - _Personality tests score people along several dimensions._
7. The number of vectors in any basis of a vector space.
   - Simple: In math, the number of basic directions that make up a space.
   - _The plane R² has dimension two._
   - _A basis with five vectors means the space has dimension five._
8. Any of the independent index ranges in a multidimensional array.
   - Simple: One of the directions used to organize data in a grid or table.
   - _The image array stores color in a separate dimension from width and height._
   - _Looping over each dimension lets you visit every element._

## Verb

9. To mark, cut, or shape something to specified measurements.
   - Simple: To cut or shape something to an exact size.
   - _She dimensioned the steel plate to the engineer's exact specifications._
   - _Workers dimension every beam before it leaves the mill._
10. To specify the size of an array or similar data structure, allocating space for it.
   - Simple: To set the size of a list or table in a program.
   - _Always dimension the buffer to match the expected input size._
   - _The compiler complained because the code never dimensioned the array._

## Origin

From Latin dīmēnsiō.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/dimension (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).