Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- one 100th of a meter, equivalent to 0.3937 inch. Abbreviation: cm, cm.
also centimetre, 1801, from French centimètre (18c.), coined from Latin centum “hundred” (see hundred) + French mètre (see meter (n.2)).
n.
- A unit of length equal to one hundredth (10-2) of a meter.
- A unit of length in the metric system equal to 0.01 meter. See Table at measurement.
A unit of length in the metric system; one-hundredth of a meter, or about two-fifths of an inch.