Meter vs. Metric — What's the Difference?

The measured arrangement of words in poetry, as by accentual rhythm, syllabic quantity, or the number of syllables in a line.

Of or relating to the metric system of measurement.

A particular arrangement of words in poetry, such as iambic pentameter, determined by the kind and number of metrical units in a line.

(music) Of or relating to the meter of a piece of music.

The rhythmic pattern of a stanza, determined by the kind and number of lines.

Of or relating to distance.

Division into measures or bars.

A measure for something; a means of deriving a quantitative measurement or approximation for otherwise qualitative phenomena (especially used in engineering).

A specific rhythm determined by the number of beats and the time value assigned to each note in a measure.

(mathematics) A function for the measurement of the "distance" between two points in some metric space: it is a real-valued function d(x,y) between points x and y satisfying the following properties: (1) "non-negativity": $d(x,y)\; \backslash ge\; 0$, (2) "identity of indiscernibles": $d(x,y)\; =\; 0\; \backslash mbox\{\; iff\; \}\; x=y$, (3) "symmetry": $d(x,y)\; =\; d(y,x)$, and (4) "triangle inequality": $d(x,y)\; \backslash le\; d(x,z)\; +\; d(z,y)$.

The international standard unit of length, approximately equivalent to 39.37 inches. It was redefined in 1983 as the distance traveled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. See Table at measurement.

(mathematics) A metric tensor.

Any of various devices designed to measure time, distance, speed, or intensity or indicate and record or regulate the amount or volume, as of the flow of a gas or an electric current.

Abbreviation of metric system

A postage meter.

To measure or analyse statistical data concerning the quality or effectiveness of a process.

A parking meter.

Relating to measurement; involving, or proceeding by, measurement.

To measure with a meter

Of or pertaining to the meter as a standard of measurement; of or pertaining to the decimal system of measurement of which a meter is the unit; as, the metric system; a metric measurement.

To supply in a measured or regulated amount

A function of a topological space that gives, for any two points in the space, a value equal to the distance between them

To imprint with postage or other revenue stamps by means of a postage meter or similar device

A decimal unit of measurement of the metric system (based on meters and kilograms and seconds);

To provide with a parking meter or parking meters

A system of related measures that facilitates the quantification of some particular characteristic

A device that measures things.

Based on the meter as a standard of measurement;

A parking meter or similar device for collecting payment.

The rhythmic arrangement of syllables

One who metes or measures.

(American spelling) The base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), conceived as 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator, and now defined as the distance light will travel in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 seconds.

(American spelling) The overall rhythm of a song or poem; particularly, the number of beats in a measure or syllables in a line.

(obsolete) A poem.

(American spelling) A line above or below a hanging net, to which the net is attached in order to strengthen it.

To measure with a metering device.

To imprint a postage mark with a postage meter.

To regulate the flow of or to deliver in regulated amounts (usually of fluids but sometimes of other things such as anticipation or breath).

One who, or that which, metes or measures. See Coal-meter.

An instrument for measuring, and usually for recording automatically, the quantity measured.

A line above or below a hanging net, to which the net is attached in order to strengthen it.

Rhythmical arrangement of syllables or words into verses, stanzas, strophes, etc.; poetical measure, depending on number, quantity, and accent of syllables; rhythm; measure; verse; also, any specific rhythmical arrangements; as, the Horatian meters; a dactylic meter.

A poem.

A measure of length, equal to 39.37 English inches, the standard of linear measure in the metric system of weights and measures. It was intended to be, and is very nearly, the ten millionth part of the distance from the equator to the north pole, as ascertained by actual measurement of an arc of a meridian. See Metric system, under Metric.

The basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards)

Any of various measuring instruments for measuring a quantity

(prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse

Rhythm as given by division into parts of equal time

Measure with a meter;

Stamp with a meter indicating the postage;