R  E  F  E  R  E  N  C  E  S 
Magnitude 1. size; extent; dimensions.  2. great amount, importance, etc.  3. greatness; great size.  4. moral greatness.  5. Astron. 1. the brightness of a star or other celestial body as viewed by the unaided eye from the earth and expressed by a mathematical ratio of 2.512: a star of the first magnitude is approximately 2 1/2 times as bright as one of the sixth magnitude.  b. see absolute magnitude.  6.  Math, a number characteristic of a quantity and forming a basis for comparison with similar quantities, as length  [ME < L magnitúdó]
[Urdang, Laurence, ed.  Random House Dictionary of The English Language.  New York: Random House,1968.]
Copyright
 The contents of this site, including all images and text, are for personal, educational, non-commercial use only. The contents of this site may not be reproduced in any form without proper reference to Text, Author, Publisher, and Date of Publication [and page #s when suitable].