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Unit vs Scale - What's the difference?

unit | scale |

As nouns the difference between unit and scale

is that unit is a standard measure of a quantity while scale is a ladder; a series of steps; a means of ascending.

As an adjective unit

is for each unit.

As a verb scale is

to change the size of something whilst maintaining proportion; especially to change a process in order to produce much larger amounts of the final product.

unit

English

(Unit)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (sciences) A standard measure of a quantity.
    • The centimetre is a unit of length.
  • The number one.
    • This pill provides 500 units of Vitamin E.
  • An organized group comprising people and/or equipment.
    • He was a member of a special police unit .
  • (military, informal) A member of a military organization.
    • The fifth tank brigade moved in with 20 units .'' (''i.e., 20 tanks )
  • (US, military) Any military element whose structure is prescribed by competent authority, such as a table of organization and equipment; specifically, part of an organizationJoint Publication 1-02 U.S. Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms; 12 April 2001 (As Amended Through 14 April 2006). .
  • (US, military) An organization title of a subdivision of a group in a task force.
  • (US, military) A standard or basic quantity into which an item of supply is divided, issued or used. In this meaning, also called unit of issue.
  • (US, military) With regard to Reserve Components of the Armed Forces, denotes a Selected Reserve unit organized, equipped, and trained for mobilization to serve on active duty as a unit or to augment or be augmented by another unit. Headquarters and support functions without wartime missions are not considered units.
  • (algebra) An element of a ring having a multiplicative inverse. (Formerly just the identity element 1R of a ring.)
  • (geology) A volume of rock or ice of identifiable origin and age range that is defined by the distinctive and dominant, easily mapped and recognizable petrographic, lithologic or paleontologic features (facies) that characterize it.
  • (commerce) An item which may be sold singly.
    • We shipped nearly twice as many units this month as last month.
  • (UK, electricity) One kilowatt-hour (as recorded on an electricity meter).
  • (Australia, New Zealand) a measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household, an apartment where a group of apartments is contained in one or more multi-storied buildings or a group of dwellings is in one or more single storey buildings, usually arranged around a driveway.
  • (historical) A gold coin of the reign of James I, worth twenty shillings.
    • (Camden)

    Synonyms

    * (identity element) identity element, unit element

    Adjective

    (-)
  • For each unit.
    • We have to keep our unit costs down if we want to make a profit.
  • (mathematics) Having a size or magnitude of one.
  • * 1990 , William W. S. Wei, Time Series Analysis , ISBN 0201159112, page 9:
    • Consider the following time sequence
  • *:: Z_t=A\sin(\omega t+\theta),
    • where A is a random variable with a zero mean and a unit variance and \theta is a random variable with a uniform distribution on the interval [-\pi,\pi] independent of A.

    Derived terms

    * construction unit * tractor unit * unit aircraft * unitality * unit cost * unit combat readiness * unit commitment status * unit designation list

    References

    External links

    * * *

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    scale

    English

    (wikipedia scale) {, style="float: right; clear:right;" , , }

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) ; see scan, ascend, descend, etc.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A ladder; a series of steps; a means of ascending.
  • An ordered numerical sequence used for measurement.
    • Please rate your experience on a scale from 1 to 10.
  • Size; scope.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
    • , author=Robert L. Dorit , title=Rereading Darwin , volume=100, issue=1, page=23 , magazine= citation , passage=We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.}}
    The Holocaust was insanity on an enormous scale .
    There are some who question the scale of our ambitions.
  • The ratio of depicted distance to actual distance.
    • This map uses a scale of 1:10.
  • A line or bar associated with a drawing, used to indicate measurement when the image has been magnified or reduced
  • *
    • Even though precision can be carried to an extreme, the scales which now are drawn in (and usually connected to an appropriate figure by an arrow) will allow derivation of meaningful measurements.
  • A means of assigning a magnitude.
    • The magnitude of an earthquake is measured on the open-ended Richter scale .
  • (music) A series of notes spanning an octave, tritave, or pseudo-octave, used to make melodies.
  • A mathematical base for a numeral system.
    • the decimal scale'''; the binary '''scale
  • Gradation; succession of ascending and descending steps and degrees; progressive series; scheme of comparative rank or order.
  • * Milton
    • There is a certain scale of duties which for want of studying in right order, all the world is in confusion.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012
    • , date=May 13 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Man City 3-2 QPR , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=City's players and supporters travelled from one end of the emotional scale to the other in those vital seconds, providing a truly remarkable piece of football theatre and the most dramatic conclusion to a season in Premier League history.}}
    Derived terms
    * Celsius scale * Fahrenheit scale * Kelvin scale * major scale * microscale * milliscale * minor scale * modal scale * scale invariance * scale model * Richter scale * to scale * wage scale * widescale
    Hyponyms
    * (music) tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading note, octave interval * (geography) cartographic ratio, resolution, grain, support, focus, extent, range, size
    See also
    * degree * ordinal variable

    Verb

    (scal)
  • To change the size of something whilst maintaining proportion; especially to change a process in order to produce much larger amounts of the final product.
    • We should scale that up by a factor of 10.
  • To climb to the top of.
    • Hilary and Norgay were the first known to have scaled Everest.
  • * 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter IX
    • At last I came to the great barrier-cliffs; and after three days of mad effort--of maniacal effort--I scaled' them. I built crude ladders; I wedged sticks in narrow fissures; I chopped toe-holds and finger-holds with my long knife; but at last I ' scaled them. Near the summit I came upon a huge cavern.
  • (computing) To tolerate significant increases in throughput or other potentially limiting factors.
    • That architecture won't scale to real-world environments.
  • To weigh, measure or grade according to a scale or system.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Scaling his present bearing with his past.
    Related terms
    * scale back * scale down * scale up * scaling ladder

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) scale, from (etyl) escale, from (etyl) or another (etyl) source skala /, (etyl) scaglia.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Part of an overlapping arrangement of many small, flat and hard pieces of keratin covering the skin of an animal, particularly a fish or reptile.
  • * Milton
    • Fish that, with their fins and shining scales , / Glide under the green wave.
  • A small piece of pigmented chitin, many of which coat the wings of a butterfly or moth to give them their color.
  • A flake of skin of an animal afflicted with dermatitis.
  • A pine nut of a pinecone.
  • The flaky material sloughed off heated metal.
  • Scale mail (as opposed to chain mail).
  • Limescale
  • A scale insect
  • The thin metallic side plate of the handle of a pocketknife.
    • Derived terms
    * antiscalant

    Verb

    (scal)
  • To remove the scales of.
    • Please scale that fish for dinner.
  • To become scaly; to produce or develop scales.
    • The dry weather is making my skin scale .
  • To strip or clear of scale; to descale.
    • to scale the inside of a boiler
  • To take off in thin layers or scales, as tartar from the teeth; to pare off, as a surface.
  • * T. Burnet
    • if all the mountains were scaled , and the earth made even
  • To separate and come off in thin layers or laminae.
    • Some sandstone scales by exposure.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • Those that cast their shell are the lobster and crab; the old skins are found, but the old shells never; so it is likely that they scale off.
  • (UK, Scotland, dialect) To scatter; to spread.
  • To clean, as the inside of a cannon, by the explosion of a small quantity of powder.
    • (Totten)

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) . Cognate with , as in Etymology 2.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A device to measure mass or weight.
    • After the long, lazy winter I was afraid to get on the scale .
  • Either of the pans, trays, or dishes of a balance or scales.
    • Usage notes
    * The noun is often used in the plural to denote a single device (originally a pair of scales had two pans).

    External links

    (scale up) * *

    Anagrams

    * English terms with multiple etymologies ----