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# decimetre

noun (a decimetre, decimetres); decimeter (US)

«decimetre» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

A decimetre is a unit of length equal to 10 centimetres, or one tenth of a metre. It is written dm. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decimetre/#m1)

### In the lessons

In maths lessons on metric units, the decimetre sits between the centimetre and the metre. It is not used much in everyday life, but appears in conversion questions and in volume: 1 cubic decimetre = 1 litre. Phrases: square decimetre, cubic decimetre.

### Examples

- A decimetre is 10 centimetres long. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decimetre/#x1)
- There are 10 decimetres in a metre. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decimetre/#x2)
- My pencil is about 1.5 decimetres long. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decimetre/#x3)
- Convert 3 dm into centimetres: 30 cm. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decimetre/#x4)
- A cube with 1 dm sides holds exactly 1 litre. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decimetre/#x5)
- The ruler is 3 decimetres long. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decimetre/#x6)
- 25 cm = 2.5 dm. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decimetre/#x7)
- We rarely use decimetres in everyday life. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decimetre/#x8)

### Note

UK spelling decimetre; US decimeter. Symbol dm. "Deci-" means one tenth. Maths: 1 dm = 10 cm = 100 mm = 0.1 m; 1 dm³ = 1 litre. Trap: do not confuse "deci-" (a tenth) with "deca-" (ten times).

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «decimetre» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decimetre/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«decimetre» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/decimetre.html) on Mova free.