metric
metric — adjective
- metricpositive
- more metriccomparative
- most metricsuperlative
1. relating to a decimal measurement system based on the metre, kilogram, and litre
relating to a decimal measurement system based on the metre, kilogram, and litre.
Trang used metric measurements for her chemistry experiment at school.
metric measurements [collocation]
The recipe from the French cookbook gave all quantities in metric units.
metric units [collocation]
Most European countries adopted the metric system in the nineteenth century.
Otis bought a set of metric wrenches for repairing his bicycle.
The harbour can handle vessels carrying up to fifty thousand metric tonnes of cargo.
- imperial
refers to the British system using inches, feet, pounds, etc.
文法句型
metric + noun
用法筆記
Attributive only — this sense almost always appears before a noun (metric system, metric units, metric measurements). It is not used predicatively (❌ 'This system is metric' sounds unnatural in most everyday contexts).
常見錯誤
2. relating to the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line o
relating to the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry, which creates a steady rhythm or beat.
The professor explained the metric pattern of Shakespeare's sonnets.
metric pattern of [something]
Roya analysed the metric structure of each stanza for her literature essay.
The poet used a strict metric scheme with exactly ten syllables per line.
Christopher compared the metric feet in two different eighteenth-century odes.
- prosaic
ordinary, not having the structured rhythm of verse
文法句型
metric + noun
用法筆記
This sense belongs to literary analysis and poetry studies. It is a technical term in prosody and rarely appears outside academic writing about verse. The synonymous adjective 'metrical' is more common in this domain.
常見錯誤
metric — noun
- metricsingular
- metricsplural
1. a standard or set of numbers used to measure, compare, or track the performance,
a standard or set of numbers used to measure, compare, or track the performance, quality, or progress of something — such as sales figures, test scores, or website visitors.
Customer satisfaction is the most important metric for the hotel chain.
key / important metric [collocation]
The marketing team presented several metrics to show campaign growth.
metrics as countable plural noun
Sana compared the sales metrics from the first and second quarters.
The school uses graduation rates as a metric of student success.
Marco monitors the website traffic metrics every Monday morning.
文法句型
metric + of + noun
key metric
performance metric
用法筆記
Extremely common in business and technology contexts. Often appears in the plural ('metrics') when referring to multiple data points. Do not confuse with 'metre' (a unit of length).
常見錯誤
2. in mathematics, a way of calculating the distance between items in a collection,
in mathematics, a way of calculating the distance between items in a collection, always returning a non-negative number and respecting rules like symmetry and the triangle inequality.
The Euclidean metric defines the straight-line distance between two points in space.
Euclidean metric [technical term]
Tamar learned about the discrete metric in her topology lecture this semester.
João showed that the Manhattan distance formula satisfies all conditions of a metric on a city grid.
The Euclidean metric on a flat map acts like a ruler measuring the straight line between two towns.
- distance function
a more descriptive everyday term for the same mathematical concept
- metric function
alternative phrasing used in textbooks
文法句型
metric + on + noun phrase
metric + for + noun phrase
用法筆記
This is a highly technical mathematical term from the field of topology and analysis. It is almost never used outside of advanced university-level mathematics. The most well-known example is the Euclidean metric, which corresponds to ordinary distance.
metric — adjective
- metricpositive
- more metriccomparative
- most metricsuperlative
1. a suffix forming adjectives meaning 'relating to a particular measuring instrume
a suffix forming adjectives meaning 'relating to a particular measuring instrument' — for instance, a thermometric measurement is one taken with a thermometer.
The barometric pressure dropped sharply before the thunderstorm arrived.
barometric pressure [common compound]
Élise recorded the thermometric readings every hour during the heatwave.
The hydrometric data showed that the river level had risen by two metres.
Photometric analysis showed that the new LED bulbs were thirty percent brighter.
文法句型
[instrument] + -metric
用法筆記
This is not a standalone word but a combining form (suffix) attached to instrument names ending in '-meter'. Common compounds: barometric (barometer), thermometric (thermometer), hydrometric (hydrometer), photometric (photometer). Learners should recognise these as 'relating to [measuring instrument]'.
2. used as a suffix to form adjectives meaning 'of or relating to a particular art,
used as a suffix to form adjectives meaning 'of or relating to a particular art, process, or science of measuring' — for example, geometric figures are those studied in geometry.
Geometric patterns appear frequently in traditional Islamic tilework.
geometric patterns [common compound]
Sari used trigonometric functions to calculate the height of the building.
The surveyor made precise topographic measurements of the mountain slope.
Telemetric sensors on the satellite relayed real-time temperature data back to mission control.
文法句型
[science] + -metric
用法筆記
Like sense 3, this is a combining form (suffix). It attaches to names of sciences or fields that end in '-metry' (geometry → geometric, trigonometry → trigonometric, topography → topographic, astronomy → astronomic). The meaning is always 'relating to the field or science of X-measurement'.