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thickness

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

Etymology

From Middle English thikkenesse, thiknesse, from Old English þicnes (“thickness, viscosity, density, hardness; obscurity, cloud, darkness; thicket; depth, a thick body, anything thick or heavy”), from Proto-West Germanic *þikkwīnassī (“thickness”), equivalent to thick +‎ -ness. Cognate with West Frisian tsjokkens (“thickness”), Old High German dickinessī, dikkinissi, diknissi (“thickness, density”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English crassitude (“thickness”) from Latin crassitūdō (“thickness”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈθɪknəs/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪknəs
  • Hyphenation: thick‧ness

Noun

thickness (countable and uncountable, plural thicknesses)

  1. (uncountable) The property of being thick (in dimension).
  2. (uncountable, countable) A measure of how thick (in dimension) something is.
    The thickness of the Earth's crust varies from two to 70 kilometres.
    Guitar picks come in different thicknesses.
    • 2019 August 6, Ashley Strickland, “Scientists just created the world’s thinnest gold and it’s two atoms thick”, in CNN‎:
      The newest form of gold created in a lab is the thickness of two atoms, according to a new study. It’s only 0.47 nanometers thick, which is one million times thinner than a human finger nail.
    • 2025 January 6, Daniel Toy, “I’ve been journaling for more than 20 years. Here are my 25 favorite journaling supplies”, in CNN‎:
      Whether made by a small business or a household name like Scotch, washi tape comes in countless colors, patterns and thicknesses and can be used for just as many adhesive-related projects, from decorating envelopes and empty jars to creating section dividers and adhering photos/ephemera in journals.
  3. (countable) A layer.
    We upholstered the seat with three thicknesses of cloth to make it more comfortable to sit on.
  4. (uncountable) The quality of being thick (in consistency).
    Whip the cream until it reaches a good thickness.
  5. (uncountable, informal) The property of being thick (slow to understand).
  6. (graph theory, countable) The minimum number of planar subgraphs which a given graph can decompose into.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

thickness (third-person singular simple present thicknesses, present participle thicknessing, simple past and past participle thicknessed)

  1. (transitive) To trim (wood) to a consistent thickness using a thickness planer.
    • 2003, Garrett Hack, The Handplane Book, page 143:
      Even if the parts are thicknessed by machine, check for and plane out any cup with a bench plane.

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