Scale Meaning
/skeɪl/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA ladder; a series of steps; a means of ascending.
nounAn ordered, usually numerical sequence used for measurement; means of assigning a magnitude.
Sentence Examples
Please put your baggage on this scale.
Please put it on the scale.
The products are sold on a world scale.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mountaineers had to ____ the icy cliff to reach the summit.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The geologist used the Richter ____ to measure the intensity of the earthquake.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English scale, from Latin scāla, usually in plural scālae (“a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder”), for *skand-slā, from scandō (“to climb”); see scan, ascend, descend, etc. Doublet of scala.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 2012 January 26, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2012, page 23:
"Even though precision can be carried to an extreme, the scales which now are drawn in (and usually connected to an appropriate figure by an arrow) will allow derivation of meaningful measurements."
— 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page ix:
"There is a certain scale of duties […] which for want of studying in right order, all the world is in confusion."
— 1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC:
"City's players and supporters travelled from one end of the emotional scale to the other in those vital seconds, providing a truly remarkable piece of football theatre and the most dramatic conclusion to a season in Premier League history."
— 2012 May 13, Phil McNulty, “Man City 3-2 QPR”, in BBC Sport:
"At last I came to the great barrier-cliffs; and after three days of mad effort—of maniacal effort—I scaled them. I built crude ladders; I wedged sticks in narrow fissures; I chopped toe-holds and finger-holds with my long knife; but at last I scaled them. Near the summit I came upon a huge cavern."
— 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IX, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The mountaineers had to ____ the icy cliff to reach the summit.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The geologist used the Richter ____ to measure the intensity of the earthquake.