CALIBER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does caliber mean? 

• CALIBER (noun)
  The noun CALIBER has 2 senses:

1. a degree or grade of excellence or worth

2. diameter of a tube or gun barrel

  Familiarity information: CALIBER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CALIBER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A degree or grade of excellence or worth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

caliber; calibre; quality

Context example:

an executive of low caliber

Hypernyms ("caliber" is a kind of...):

degree; grade; level (a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality)

Attribute:

superior (of high or superior quality or performance)

inferior (of low or inferior quality)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "caliber"):

high quality; superiority (the quality of being superior)

inferiority; low quality (an inferior quality)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Diameter of a tube or gun barrel

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

bore; caliber; calibre; gauge

Hypernyms ("caliber" is a kind of...):

diam; diameter (the length of a straight line passing through the center of a circle and connecting two points on the circumference)

Derivation:

calibrate (measure the caliber of)

 Context examples 

Their small mental caliber was depressing to him, and he was anxious to get away from them.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

They modulate the tone of vascular smooth muscle cells, which in turn controls blood pressure and blood flow by adjusting the caliber of arteries and arterioles.

(Ion Channels in Vascular Endothelium Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

One drawer of the cabinet contained a real 0.38-caliber handgun that had been modified so it could not fire, although the gun's hammer and trigger were still functional.

(Better Not to Show Kids Movies with Guns, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Stars of this caliber form from gassy, dusty clumps with initial masses dozens of times greater than the sun's; the 13 clumps spotted in NGC 7358, some of which lie along the edge of the mystery ring, all are more than 40 times more massive than the sun.

(Herschel sees budding stars and a giant, strange ring, NASA)

He heard words spoken that were meaningless to him, and other words that he had seen only in books and that no man or woman he had known was of large enough mental caliber to pronounce.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)