barometer

From baro- +‎ -meter. Coined in 1665 by Robert Boyle as a name for the instrument invented by Torricelli some 20 years earlier; soon thereafter borrowed from English into various languages.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bəˈɹɒm.ɪ.tə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bəˈɹɑ.mə.tɚ/, [bəˈɹɑ.mə.ɾɚ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /bəˈɹɔm.ɪ.tə(ɹ)/, [bəˈɹɔm.ɪ.ɾə(ɹ)]
• Rhymes: -ɒmɪtə(ɹ)

barometer (plural barometers)

2. An instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure.
   • 1978, Jan Romein, The Watershed of Two Eras: Europe in 1900, page 303:

     Elsewhere, professionals could enthuse over new precision instruments capable, for instance, of measuring weights down to a tenth of a milligram, or over a host of self-registering thermometers and barometers, microscopes, typewriters, calculators and all sorts of technical and musical devices, including automatic concertinas, edeophones, auto-harps, bigophones and other long-forgotten objects.

3. (figurative, by extension) Anything used as a gauge or indicator.
   • 1916 Jun, Michigan Law Review‎^[1], volume 14, number 8, pp. 661-665:

     "An election is not necessarily an accurate barometer of public opinion. There are other ways in which it makes itself felt, through the press, the forum, discussion, and through every other type of communication."

   • 2006, Anthony Marcus, Where Have All the Homeless Gone?: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page 152:

     The weakest members of society become social barometers or canaries in a coal mine.

   • 2022 May 4, Tommy Stubbington, Martin Arnold, “ECB policy tightening sends eurozone borrowing costs soaring”, in Financial Times‎^[2]:

     Italy’s 10-year yield spread versus Germany, considered a barometer of political and economic risks in the euro area, climbed as high as 1.9 percentage points on Tuesday, its widest since the early stages of the pandemic when investors dumped riskier eurozone government debt.

   • 2023 August 10, “Owners of ‘LGBT’ Swatch watches could be jailed for three years in Malaysia”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     Elections in six Malaysian states on Saturday will serve as a barometer of public sentiment for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government against a powerful opposition consisting of Malay-Muslim political parties.

• bathometer

• barometre

From Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”) +‎ -meter.

barometer n (definite singular barometeret or barometret, indefinite plural barometre, definite plural barometrene)

1. a barometer

• “barometer” in Den Danske Ordbog

From English barometer, perhaps through French baromètre. By surface analysis, baro- +‎ meter.

• IPA^(key): /ˌbaː.roːˈmeː.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ba‧ro‧me‧ter

barometer m (plural barometers, diminutive barometertje n)

1. (meteorology) barometer [from late 17th c.]

• Afrikaans: barometer
• → Papiamentu: barometer

Borrowed from Dutch barometer, from English barometer.

• IPA^(key): /ba.ro.ˈme.tər/
• Rhymes: -tər
• Hyphenation: ba‧ro‧me‧têr

barometêr

1. barometer
   1. an instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure
   2. (figuratively) anything used as a gauge or indicator

• “barometer” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”) +‎ -meter.

barometer n (definite singular barometeret or barometret, indefinite plural barometer or barometre, definite plural barometra or barometrene)

1. a barometer

• “barometer” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”) +‎ -meter.

barometer n (definite singular barometeret, indefinite plural barometer, definite plural barometera)

1. a barometer

• “barometer” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): [ˈbarɔmecer]

barometer m inan (genitive singular barometra, nominative plural barometre, genitive plural barometrov, declension pattern of stroj)

1. barometer

• “barometer”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

barometer c

1. (meteorology) a barometer
2. (figuratively, by extension) a barometer (something used as a gauge or indicator)

   väljarbarometer

   election poll ("voter barometer")

• barometrisk

• barometer in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• barometer in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• barometer in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)