Kelvin Definition

kĕlvĭn
kelvins
noun
kelvins
A basic unit of temperature on this scale, equal to one degree Celsius.
Webster's New World
A temperature scale in which zero occurs at absolute zero and each degree equals one kelvin. Water freezes at 273.15 K and boils at 373.15 K.
American Heritage
Alternative capitalization of kelvin.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:
  • k
  • First Baron Kelvin
  • William Thompson
adjective
Designating or of a scale of thermodynamic temperature measured from absolute zero (−273.16°C): the formula for converting Celsius to Kelvin is °K=°C + 273.16
Webster's New World
pronoun

A river in Scotland, running through Glasgow.

Wiktionary

A surname​.

Wiktionary
A male given name transferred from the surname; rather rare.
Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Kelvin

Noun

Singular:
kelvin
Plural:
kelvins

Origin of Kelvin

  • Named after the Irish-born Scottish physicist William Thomson, Lord Kelvin.

    From Wiktionary

  • After First Baron Kelvin

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Kelvin Sentence Examples

  • Kelvin had previously proposed to define an absolute scale of temperature independent of the properties of any particular substance in terms of Carnot's function by making F'(t) constant.

  • The great novelty in the ampere balances of Lord Kelvin was a joint or electric coupling, which is at once exceedingly flexible and yet capable of being constructed to carry with safety any desired current.

  • Kelvin ampere balances are made in two types - (i) a variable weight type suitable for obtaining the ampere value of any current within their range; and (2) a fixed weight type intended to indicate when a current which can be varied at pleasure has a certain fixed value.

  • An instrument of the latter type of considerable accuracy was designed by Lord Kelvin for the British Board of Trade Electrical Laboratory, and it is there used as the principal standard ampere balance.

  • In the use of ammeters in which the control is the gravity of a weight, such as the Kelvin ampere balances and other instruments, it should be noted that the scale reading or indication of the instrument will vary with the latitude and with the height of the instrument above the mean sea-level.

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