measure
noun
Measure — the quantified answer to the question of how much
Definition
How much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify
In depth
A measure is the determined quantity or extent of something that can be counted, weighed, or otherwise quantified, the precise answer to how much or how many. The word also carries an active sense, naming the deliberate steps taken toward a goal, as in 'taking measures,' a usage that has wandered some distance from its original arithmetic meaning.
Origin
The word descends from Latin mensura, a measuring, from metiri, to measure. Its extension into the sense of 'a step taken' developed metaphorically, the idea being that one measures out an appropriate or calculated response to a situation, much as one measures ingredients or distances — a quiet linguistic suggestion that even action can be precisely calibrated.
Usage examples
"The old recipe called for a measure of flour no modern cookbook had ever standardized."
"The government took emergency measures to contain the spreading outbreak."
"Even grief, she sometimes thought, has its own peculiar measure, deepest in the smallest, most ordinary moments."
How to use it
Measure spans scientific, legal, and figurative registers with ease, and writers should be attentive to its double life as both a noun of quantity and a noun describing deliberate action, since the surrounding sentence alone disambiguates the two senses.
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