mil
mil Lexical Profile
mil Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An informal shortening of 'million', especially when referring to sums of money.
"The tech startup reportedly sold for upwards of twenty mil last quarter."
A unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch (0.001 inch), commonly used in manufacturing to measure the thickness of wire, plastic sheeting, or coatings.
"The contractor recommended laying down a six-mil polyethylene vapor barrier beneath the concrete slab."
An informal spoken shortening of 'milliliter', frequently used in medical, laboratory, and culinary contexts.
"The nurse drew up five mils of saline solution into the syringe."
A unit of angular measurement used in artillery and navigation, equal to 1/6400 of a complete circle.
"The spotter instructed the battery to adjust the azimuth by fifteen mils to the east."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse with the homophone 'mill' (a factory or grinding facility). In engineering and manufacturing, 'mil' denotes a thousandth of an inch in North America, though British engineers traditionally use the term 'thou' to avoid confusion with the millimeter.
• Rhymes for mil
Word Origin & Etymology
The engineering measurement derives from the Latin 'mille', meaning 'thousand' (referring to a thousandth of an inch). The informal senses for 'million' and 'milliliter' are modern clipped forms of those respective words.