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# length

«length» in Mova's school dictionary: **how long something is from one end to the other** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (length, lengths)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Length is how long something is from one end to the other. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#m1)

2) Length is how long something lasts in time: the length of the film. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#m2)

3) A length is the distance from one end of a swimming pool to the other. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#m3)

4) A length of something is a piece of it: a length of rope. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#m4)

5) «At length» means for a long time, or at last. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In maths it is a measure of size in cm, m or km; one side of a rectangle, added, compared or multiplied by the width. Length × width gives the area; 2 × (length + width) gives the perimeter. In science we measure length with a ruler, a tape measure or a metre stick. In everyday life: the length of a film, a swim of ten lengths, «go to great lengths» (try very hard).

### examples

- The length of the room is 6 m. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#x1)
- Find the length of the ribbon left. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#x2)
- The pool is 25 m in length. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#x3)
- Length × width gives the area. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#x4)
- Measure the length of your pencil with a ruler. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#x5)
- She swam ten lengths of the pool. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#x6)
- The length of the movie is two hours. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#x7)
- He cut a short length of string for the kite. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#x8)
- They went to great lengths to find the lost puppy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#x9)
- At length his longing was satisfied. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/#x10)

### note

Note the spelling: «length» has a «g» and comes from «long» (like «strength» from «strong»). Countable. The verb is «lengthen» (make longer). Maths trap: the perimeter of a rectangle is 2 × (length + width), not length × width; check that all lengths are in the same unit before adding.

### In the corpora

- [A rest is a written silence with a length you count, so the music keeps moving in your head while you stay quiet.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/2-reading-music-notes-beats-and-rhythm/10/)
- [Toy Story, made by Pixar in 1995, was the first full-length film made entirely by computer animation.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/23-animation-flipbooks-stop-motion-computer-cartoons/9/)
- [Jumping spiders leap many times their body length by pushing blood into their back legs, and tie on a silk safety line first.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/148-spider-man-real-spider-senses-climbing-and-bites/9/)
- [A tiny mite in California covers about 300 body lengths a second, more than any other animal measured.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/365-tiny-champions-the-strongest-beetle-the-highest-jumping-flea-and-the-leggiest-millipede/14/)
- [The Mole falls over backwards in delight and praises the Rat's clever step-by-step thinking at great length.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/36-willows-ch3-part4-the-door-scraper/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «length» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/length/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.