millisecond

noun

mil·​li·​sec·​ond ˈmi-lə-ˌse-kənd 

-kənt

: one thousandth of a second

Did you know?

A millisecond isn't long enough for the blink of an eye, but a few milliseconds may determine the winner of a swim race or a hundred-yard dash. With the ever-increasing speed of modern technology, even a millisecond has started to seem a little sluggish; computer operations are now measured in nanoseconds—that is, billionths of a second.

Examples of millisecond in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But as Knight came with in a millisecond of pinning Reigns, the crowd turned. — Ryan Gaydos Outkick, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2026

The difference between the 86,400 atomic seconds metric and a day measured by Earth’s rotation is less than 4 milliseconds. — Vahe Peroomian, The Conversation, 8 Oct. 2026

BirdVue uses millimeter-wave radar to detect a bird entering the detection area at millisecond speeds. — New Atlas, 8 Oct. 2026

The company says that if an agent attempts to move outside its software boundary, Sentry can quarantine and stop it in milliseconds. — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

International Scientific Vocabulary

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for millisecond

• femtosecond
• microsecond
• nanosecond
• picosecond
• beckoned
• reckoned
• second
• seconde

Kids Definition

millisecond

noun

mil·​li·​sec·​ond ˈmil-ə-ˌsek-ənd 

also -ənt

: one thousandth of a second

Medical Definition

millisecond

noun

mil·​li·​sec·​ond ˈmil-ə-ˌsek-ənd, -ənt 

: one thousandth of a second

—abbreviation ms, msec