Dictionary Definition

millisecond n : one thousandth of a second [syn: msec]

User Contributed Dictionary

one one-thousandth of a second

A millisecond (from milli- and second; abbreviation: ms) is one thousandth of a second.

To help compare orders of magnitude of different times this page lists times between 10−3 seconds and 10−2 seconds (1 millisecond to 10 milliseconds). See also times of other orders of magnitude.

shorter times
1 millisecond (1 ms) – cycle time for frequency 1 kHz
1 millisecond – duration of light for typical photo flash strobe
1 millisecond – repetition interval of GPS C/A PN code
1.000692286 milliseconds – time taken for light to travel 300 km in a vacuum
2 milliseconds – half life of hassium-265
2.27 milliseconds – cycle time for the A above middle C in music (440 Hz); if a tuning device for musical instruments generates just one tone, it is probably this tone
3 milliseconds – a housefly’s wing flap
3.4 milliseconds – half life of meitnerium-266
5 milliseconds – a honey bee’s wing flap
8 milliseconds – 1/125 of a second (125), a standard camera shutter speed
9 milliseconds – typical maximum seek time for a 7200rpm hard disk
longer times

millisecond in Catalan: Mil·lisegon

millisecond in Danish: Millisekund

millisecond in Spanish: Milisegundo

millisecond in Basque: Milisegundo

millisecond in French: 1 E-3 s

millisecond in Japanese: 1 E-3 s

millisecond in Korean: 1 E-3 s

millisecond in Dutch: Milliseconde

millisecond in Norwegian Nynorsk: Millisekund

millisecond in Norwegian: Millisekund

millisecond in Portuguese: Milissegundo

millisecond in Swedish: Millisekund

millisecond in Chinese: 毫秒