The Meaning of Gauge: What It Is and How To Use It

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Have you ever heard someone say that they will “gauge” something? Have you ever heard of a tool referred to as a “standard gauge”? This article will teach you how to use the word gauge as a noun and a verb.

Then, we will go over example sentences that contain the word gauge. Finally, we will cover related topics to the word gauge, such as translations, synonyms, and antonyms of the word gauge.

What Does Gauge Mean?

According to Dictionary, the word gauge is a noun or a verb. As a verb, gauge literally means to measure, or figuratively to evaluate or judge. As a noun, gauge can refer to a standard of measure, thickness, or fineness and the instrument that makes these measurements. The pronunciation of the word gauge is ɡeɪdʒ.

People can use the word gauge in a variety of specific circumstances. For example, a wire gauge would refer to the thickness of a wire. A metal gauge would refer to the thickness of sheet metal, a temperature gauge, a rain gauge, and a steam gauge would refer to a device that measures temperature, rain, steam, and so on. 

How Can We Use Gauge in a Sentence?

You can use the word gauge as a noun or as a verb. It is important to know how to use gauge as both a noun and a verb in different sentences. By studying example sentences with the word of the day, you’ll learn how to use gauge in a sentence.

To make the rails of a railway in a uniform size, they created a standard gauge by which to measure them against.

We had to gauge whether the pricey marketing campaign would be worth it. We weren’t sure that investing all of our resources into advertising would pay off in the long run. 

At the gun store, he decided on a 12-gauge shotgun. He believed a gun of this caliber would be perfect for him.

The scientists used an atmospheric pressure gauge in their experiment.

The device could compute the calculations with either a narrow gauge or a broad gauge, depending on if the person was looking for an exact number or simply an estimate.

We had barely made it to the gas station when our fuel gauge finally reached empty. We were lucky that we were not stranded on the hot desert highway.

What Is the Etymology of Gauge?

The word gauge has quite a storied history. This word first appeared in 1332 in the Middle English compound noun gaugeman, which refers to an official measurer. In 1440, the verbs gaugen and gagen came about, which means measuring. This word began to be used figuratively in 1583. 

These Middle English terms come from the Old French gauger, which means to measure, and the Old French gauge, which means measuring. In modern French, these words are the French jauger and French jauge, respectively, from Old North French and Germanic origin. 

What Are Translations of Gauge?

Languages around the world have unique translations of the word gauge. You might notice that some of these translations of gauge from Nice Translator look similar to American English, while others look vastly different. If one translation of gauge looks similar to another, they might have the same root or language of origin.  

  • Bulgarian: габарит
  • Japanese: ゲージ
  • Bengali: গেজ
  • Ukrainian: вимірювати
  • Croatian: mjera
  • Telugu: గేజ్
  • Polish: miernik
  • Portuguese (Brazil): medidor
  • Italian: valutare
  • Portuguese (Portugal): medidor
  • Hungarian: nyomtáv
  • Thai: วัด
  • Latvian: mērītājs
  • Basque: baloratu
  • Greek: μετρητής
  • Russian: измерять
  • Welsh: medryddon
  • French: jauge
  • Malayalam: ഗേജ്
  • Slovak: rozmer
  • Amharic: መለኪያ
  • Norwegian: måler
  • Finnish: arvioida
  • Chinese (PRC): 测量
  • Malay: Tolok
  • Hindi: थाह लेना
  • Hebrew: מַד
  • Lithuanian: matuoklis
  • Estonian: mõõdupuu
  • German: Messgerät
  • Icelandic: mælir
  • Catalan: calibre
  • Tamil: பாதை
  • Romanian: ecartament
  • Indonesian: mengukur
  • Filipino: panukat
  • Gujarati: માપ
  • Serbian: колосек
  • Korean: 계량기
  • Vietnamese: thước đo
  • Arabic: قياس
  • Czech: rozchod
  • Urdu: گیج
  • Marathi: गेज
  • Turkish: ölçmek
  • Danish: Målestok
  • Spanish: medir
  • Dutch: graadmeter
  • Swahili: chachi
  • Kannada: ಗೇಜ್
  • Slovenian: merilec
  • Swedish: mätare
  • Chinese (Taiwan): 測量

What Are Synonyms of Gauge?

Power Thesaurus lists many words that you can use in place of the word gauge as both a noun and a verb. This list will teach you words that you can substitute for gauge.

  • appraise
  • approximate
  • ascertain
  • assess
  • assessed
  • assessing
  • barometer
  • benchmark
  • bore
  • calculate
  • caliber
  • calibrate
  • calibre
  • compute
  • consider
  • count
  • criterion
  • deem
  • determine
  • dial
  • diameter
  • estimate
  • evaluate
  • evaluated
  • evaluating
  • example
  • fathom
  • figure
  • gage
  • guess
  • guesstimate
  • guide
  • guideline
  • indicator
  • judge
  • mark
  • measure
  • measuring
  • measuring device
  • measuring instrument
  • meter
  • model
  • norm
  • pattern
  • plumb
  • quantify
  • rank
  • rate
  • reckon
  • review
  • scale
  • size
  • size up
  • sound
  • standard
  • test
  • touchstone
  • value
  • weigh
  • width
  • yardstick

What Are Antonyms of Gauge?

You can also learn many words that mean the opposite of gauge from Power Thesaurus.

  • bottomless
  • boundless
  • countless
  • endless
  • enormous
  • great
  • huge
  • iffy
  • illimitable
  • immeasurable
  • immense
  • incalculable
  • incomputable
  • indefinite
  • indeterminable
  • indeterminate
  • inestimable
  • inexhaustible
  • infinite
  • innumerable
  • interminable
  • invaluable
  • limitless
  • measureless
  • multitudinous
  • myriad
  • no end of
  • numberless
  • priceless
  • unbounded
  • uncertain
  • uncountable
  • uncounted
  • unfathomable
  • unforeseeable
  • unforeseen
  • unlimited
  • unnumbered
  • unpredictable
  • untold
  • vast
  • vague
  • without number

Conclusion

The definition of gauge (geɪdʒ) varies depending on whether you are using it as a noun or a verb. As a verb, the word gauge means to measure, estimate, or appraise. As a noun, the word gauge refers to some standard or measurement or dimension or the device or instrument used to measure something. 

Sources:

Gauge synonyms – 1 026 Words and Phrases for Gauge | Power Thesaurus 

638 Words and Phrases for Incalculable | Power Thesaurus 

Gauge Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com 

Gauge | Nice Translator