| Noun | 1. |  length - the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place; "the length of the table was 5 feet" physical property - any property used to characterize matter and energy and their interactions dimension - the magnitude of something in a particular direction (especially length or width or height) circumference - the length of the closed curve of a circle diam, diameter - the length of a straight line passing through the center of a circle and connecting two points on the circumference longness - the property of being of long spatial extent; "one gene causes shortness and the other causes longness" shortness - the property of being of short spatial extent; "the shortness of the Channel crossing" fundamental measure, fundamental quantity - one of the four quantities that are the basis of systems of measurement | 
| 2. | length - continuance in time; "the ceremony was of short duration"; "he complained about the length of time required" temporal property - a property relating to time longness - duration as an extension protraction, lengthiness, prolongation, continuation - the consequence of being lengthened in duration endlessness - the property of being (or seeming to be) without end shortness - the property of being of short temporal extent; "the shortness of air travel time" permanence, permanency - the property of being able to exist for an indefinite duration impermanence, impermanency - the property of not existing for indefinitely long durations | |
| 3. | length - the property of being the extent of something from beginning to end; "the editor limited the length of my article to 500 words" extent - the distance or area or volume over which something extends; "the vast extent of the desert"; "an orchard of considerable extent" | |
| 4. | length - size of the gap between two places; "the distance from New York to Chicago"; "he determined the length of the shortest line segment joining the two points" leg - (nautical) the distance traveled by a sailing vessel on a single tack size - the physical magnitude of something (how big it is); "a wolf is about the size of a large dog" arm's length - a distance sufficient to exclude intimacy gauge - the distance between the rails of a railway or between the wheels of a train light time - distance measured in terms of the speed of light (or radio waves); "the light time from Jupiter to the sun is approximately 43 minutes" skip distance - the shortest distance that permits radio signals (of a given frequency) to travel from the transmitter to the receiver by reflection from the ionosphere wingspan, wingspread - linear distance between the extremities of an airfoil wingspread - distance between the tips of the wings (as of a bird or insect) when fully extended altitude - the perpendicular distance from the base of a geometric figure to the opposite vertex (or side if parallel) | |
| 5. | length - a section of something that is long and narrow; "a length of timber"; "a length of tubing" |