Barometer

How to spell barometer

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce barometer

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does barometer mean?

1. nounAn instrument that measures atmospheric pressure, used especially for forecasting weather.
2. nounSomething that indicates or reflects changes in a situation, mood, or set of conditions.

Barometer in a sentence

• The old brass barometer on the hallway wall predicted the coming storm.

• Retail spending is often treated as a reliable barometer of consumer confidence.

• A falling reading on the barometer usually means rain is on the way.

• The team's morale acted as a barometer for how the project was really going.

Where does barometer come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word was assembled in the seventeenth century from two Greek building blocks: baros, meaning 'weight' or 'heaviness', and metron, meaning 'a measure'. The literal idea is therefore a 'weight measurer', because the instrument gauges the weight, or pressure, of the air pressing down on us. It was coined in scientific English around the 1660s, shortly after Evangelista Torricelli's experiments with mercury columns demonstrated that air has measurable weight. The -meter ending is the same one that runs through thermometer, speedometer, and odometer, all of which mean some kind of 'measurer'. Because the first part comes from baros rather than the more familiar 'bar', the spelling keeps a single 'r' and an 'o' linking vowel, which is the join writers most often slip on. The figurative use, meaning anything that signals shifts in mood or conditions, grew naturally from the instrument that signals changes in the weather.

How the word is built

• baro- (from Greek baros: weight, pressure)
• -meter (from Greek metron: measure)