speedometer

speedometer — noun

1. a round gauge on a car's dashboard that tells the driver the current speed in mi

1.nounB1
Definition

a round gauge on a car's dashboard that tells the driver the current speed in miles or kilometres per hour

Example

Jude glanced at the speedometer and saw he was driving at 110 kilometres per hour.

glance at + speedometer for quick visual check

The speedometer in my father's old truck stopped working last Tuesday.

Common collocations
  • glance at / check / look at the speedometer
  • speedometer shows / reads / indicates
  • digital / analog speedometer
  • broken / faulty speedometer

Grammar Patterns

the speedometer + verb

[possessive] speedometer

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These three dashboard instruments are easily confused. A speedometer measures how fast the vehicle is moving at a given moment — the needle you watch to avoid speeding. An odometer (from Greek 'hodos' meaning road) counts the total distance the vehicle has travelled, often shown as a second set of numbers below the speed reading. A tachometer (from Greek 'tachos' meaning speed) measures the engine's rotation speed in revolutions per minute (RPM), usually found next to the speedometer in cars with manual transmission. For everyday driving, the speedometer is the one you check most often; the odometer matters for resale value and maintenance, and the tachometer mainly helps manual-gear drivers shift at the right moment.

speedometer ↗odometertachometer

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • speedometer reading
  • speedometer cable

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishGreekEnglish

Speedometer is a compound of 'speed' (from Old English 'spēd', originally meaning prosperity or success, later coming to mean swiftness) and '-meter' (from Greek 'metron', meaning measure). The word was first used in the early 1900s as cars became common and drivers needed a way to see their speed.