Calculator
/ˈkæl.kjə.leɪ.tə(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA mechanical or electronic device that performs mathematical calculations; (now usually) an electronic one specifically.
nounA person who performs mathematical calculation.
Sentence Examples
A businessman is working out some figures with a calculator.
The calculator on the table is mine.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
My math teacher allowed us to use a ____ for the complex multiplication problems.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I used a ____ to check the math problems in my homework tonight.
Word Origin & History
In the sense of a person, from Middle English calkelatour (“a mathematician, an astrologer”), borrowed from Latin calculātor, equivalent to calculate + -or. The other meanings arose in Modern English.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"First, many real-world investors bear little resemblance to the cool calculators of efficient-market theory: they're all too subject to herd behavior, to bouts of irrational exuberance and unwarranted panic."
— 2020, Paul Krugman, Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future, page 145:
"Talk not thus, I implore you, Evelyn: do not imagine me the worldly calculator that my enemies deem me."
— 1838, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter X, in Alice or The Mysteries […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, book I, page 92:
"You have in the merchant the shrewd calculator of probable contingencies; we shall see that we have in the prophet the absolute proclaimer of necessary and inevitable facts."
— 1858, John Cumming, Thy Word is Truth: an apology for Christianity, page 112:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
My math teacher allowed us to use a ____ for the complex multiplication problems.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I used a ____ to check the math problems in my homework tonight.