ounce
/aʊns/
ounce noun: an avoirdupois ounce, weighing ¹⁄₁₆ of an avoirdupois pound, or 28.349523125 grams.
Noun (1)
ounce (plural ounces)
- An avoirdupois ounce, weighing ¹⁄₁₆ of an avoirdupois pound, or 28.349523125 grams.
- A troy ounce, weighing ¹⁄₁₂ of a troy pound, or 480 grains, or 31.1034768 grams.
- A US fluid ounce, with a volume of ¹⁄₁₆ of a US pint, 1.804688 cubic inches or 29.5735295625 millilitres.
- A British imperial fluid ounce, with a volume of ¹⁄₂₀ of an imperial pint, 1.733871 cubic inches or 28.4130625 millilitres.
- Any small amount, a little bit.
- He didn't feel even an ounce of regret for his actions.
Noun (2)
ounce (plural ounces)
- A large wild feline, such as a lynx or cougar.
- The Ounce or the vvilde Cat, is as big as a mungrell dog, this creature is by nature feirce, and more dangerous to bee met vvithall than any other creature, not fearing eyther dogge or man; […]1634, William Wood, “Of the Beasts that Live on the Land”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London...
- Halloa! another prey,
The nimble Antelope!
The ounce is freed; one spring,
And his talons are sheath’d in her shoulders,
And his teeth are red in her gore.1801, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] [F]or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and...
- Synonym of snow leopard, Panthera uncia.
- Synonyms:
- snow leopard, Panthera uncia
- Synonym of onza, a particularly aggressive cougar or jaguarundi in Mexican folklore.
- The ounce, a leopard-like creature, is dreaded for its depredations by the Indians of Brazil.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 8, page 235
- Synonyms:
- onza
ounce meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
ounce in Hindi
- 28.3495 g
- औंस auns
ounce in Tamil
- அவுன்சு, மருந்து அளவு
ounce in Urdu
- اونس, آونس
ounce in Bengali
- 28.3495 g
- আউন্স aunśo
More languagesFewer languages
- ounce in Telugu
- ఔన్సు
- ounce in Malayalam
- ഔൺസ്, ഒരു പൗണ്ട്, തൂക്കത്തിൻറെ പതിനാറിലൊരു ഭാഗം
- ounce in Kannada
- ಔನ್ಸು
- ounce in Punjabi
- ਆਉਂਸ
- ounce in Gujarati
- ઔંશ
- ounce in Tagalog
- onsa
- ounce in Arabic
- أُوقِيَّة ʔūqiyya, وِقِيَّة wiqiyya, أَوْنْس ʔawns, أونصة ʔunṣa
- ounce in Malay
- auns
- ounce in Indonesian
- ons
- ounce in Thai
- ออนซ์ ɔɔn
Examples of ounce in a sentence
- This recipe says add eight ounces of flour; what's that in new money?
- Exhausted, he called on his last ounce of strength.
- Do you have it in you to show any respect, politeness, patience, or, God forbid, an ounce of forbearance?
Synonyms of ounce
- oz.
- ℥
- uncia
- snow leopard
- Panthera uncia
- onza
- fl. oz.
Forms of ounce
| plural | ounces |
|---|
Origin of ounce
From Middle English ounce, unce, from Middle French once, from Latin ū̆ncia (“Roman ounce, various similar units”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one”). Doublet of a, one, inch, uncia, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.
From Middle French once, from Old French lonce (“lynx”), by false division (the l was thought to be the article), from Italian lonza, ultimately from Ancient Greek λύγξ (lúnx, “lynx”). Doublet of onza and lynx.
Words formed from ounce
Phrases with ounce
Words that rhyme with ounce
2 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about ounce
- What does ounce mean?
- Ounce means an avoirdupois ounce, weighing ¹⁄₁₆ of an avoirdupois pound, or 28.349523125 grams.
- What is ounce in Hindi?
- Ounce in Hindi is औंस (auns). See Ounce meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is ounce?
- Ounce is a noun.
- How do you pronounce ounce?
- Ounce is pronounced /aʊns/.
- What is the plural of ounce?
- The plural of ounce is ounces.
Words near ounce in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ounce (page history and authors); ounce (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ounce (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ounce (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ounce (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ounce (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ounce (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ounce (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-ounce.wav.
Cite this entry: “ounce.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ounce. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.