Thesaurus results for SCALES

scales 1 of 4

noun (1)

plural of scale

as in balances

a device for measuring weight I hate getting on the bathroom scale

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scales

2 of 4

noun (2)

plural of scale

as in plates

a small thin piece of material that resembles an animal scale scales of mica were embedded in the granite

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scales

3 of 4

noun (3)

plural of scale

as in hierarchies

a scheme of rank or order a student who scored very highly on a standard intelligence scale

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as in ranges

the distance or extent between possible extremes with the scale going from one to ten, what did you think of the movie?

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scales

4 of 4

verb

present tense third-person singular of scale

as in measures

to find out the size, extent, or amount of scaled the logs to get a rough idea of the amount of usable lumber they were likely to yield

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of scales

Noun

Instead, as would later happen in Kansas and Nebraska, slaveowners and Southern sympathizers on the one hand and abolitionists and Free-Soilers on the other all flocked to California to try to tip the political scales in their favor. — Kathryn Schulz, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026 This discovery establishes a new way to couple mechanical motion and electricity at the smallest scales, opening new possibilities for molecular electronics. — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2026 First, blades run against the fish scales, removing them in quick fashion. — Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026 Nevertheless, taking all these results together, researchers who still believe the wave function must collapse at macroscopic scales appear to be walking on thin ice. — Philipp Strasberg, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026 Mission-critical applications and agents may become material AI cost centers as their usage scales. — Jesse Stockall, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026 Atmospheric fluctuations on shorter weekly or daily scales, such as sudden stratospheric warming events, polar vortex disruptions, or shifts in the Arctic Oscillation, can temporarily override the overarching El Niño pattern. — Ahmad Bajjey, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026 But even those examples fall far short of the sort of figures that would tilt the scales in any outcomes. — ABC News, 16 Oct. 2026 However, drones are seen as a threat on all scales of the combat spectrum, including to individual infantry soldiers targeted by what are basically flying grenades. — New Atlas, 15 Oct. 2026

Verb

Factory scales up gun production Rheinmetall equipped the 11,500-square-meter facility in just eight months, turning an empty building into an operational manufacturing site. — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 22 Oct. 2026 Many practical questions ultimately depend on which scales Schrödinger’s equation is valid at. — Philipp Strasberg, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026 Thorvald currently treats some 3,000 acres of grapevines in California as the company scales its commercial deployment. — Matt Alderton, Time, 15 Oct. 2026 Whoever scales the product should have lived through selling it. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 13 Oct. 2026 The HomePower 2000 Plus v2 is built on that philosophy, with a 2,048Wh LiFePO4 battery, a 2,400W inverter, 10ms UPS capability, and an expandable design that scales up to 12kWh. — Michael Lydick, PC Magazine, 9 Oct. 2026 With technology companies that have already demonstrated strong top-line growth, one of the most important things to watch is what happens to the incremental dollar of revenue as the company scales. — Kevin Simpson, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2026 Continue reading … REALITY SETS IN — Seattle's socialist mayor scales back on campaign promises amid public safety concerns. — FOXNews.com, 6 Oct. 2026 This is because the difficulty of computing the wave function scales exponentially with bigger molecules. — Sophya Garashchuk, The Conversation, 1 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for scales

Noun

No federal or state law requires medical providers to turn patients with outstanding balances over to collections.

— Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 20 Oct. 2026
Revolut said on its website that several of its services were partially unavailable, including card payments, topping up balances via bank cards, ATM withdrawals and currency exchange.

— CNN Money, CNN Money, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of balances

Noun

The exhibition presents 63 original prints and limited-edition ceramics, including vessels, plates, pitchers and sculptural forms created by the artist after 1947.

— Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026
The Kitchen serves salumi plates and local bread, perfect for refueling after skiing, snowmobile tours, and horseback riding at Turpin Meadow Ranch.

— Lindsay Cohn, Vogue, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of plates

Noun

Its nascent democratic system confronted entrenched social hierarchies of caste and power.

— Asim Ali, Time, 24 Oct. 2026
How far might a nation go that had no kings to depose, no entrenched hierarchies to uproot, a country so young and iconoclastic and resource-rich?

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of hierarchies

Noun

The current design conversation is reframing them as intentional styling tools, which should push manufacturers toward better fabrics, cleaner fits and broader color ranges.

— Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Sacbee.com, 23 Oct. 2026
To his point, expanding size ranges does involve investment in pattern-making, grading, sampling, production, and inventory planning.

— Joe Bobowicz, Vogue, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of ranges

Verb

It’s considered the gold standard in assessments and is the only common yardstick that measures student learning across the country.

— Lamar Alexander, Time, 23 Oct. 2026
Overall, two-thirds of patients did better on a frailty score that measures grip strength, chair stands, and balancing.

— Elizabeth Cooney, STAT, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of measures

Noun

Thanks to the single-floor layout, both are easy to access without awkwardly climbing ladders and both also offer ample headroom to stand upright.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 23 Oct. 2026
Stewart leaves ladders by his house so any community members who stay behind can reach the roof, and Sierka credits a neighbor for keeping that house standing during Woolsey.

— Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of ladders

Verb

Clarity, in the meantime, gauges whether or not the diamond has internal imperfections or external flaws, and carat weight grants insight on the actual metric weight of the diamond.

— Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 26 Oct. 2026
Another neat trick this TV has up its sleeve is an AI light sensor that gauges the room's ambient light and automatically adjusts the screen brightness to it.

— Kelsey Fogarty, PC Magazine, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of gauges

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scalelike

scales

scaling

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Style

“Scales.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scales. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of scales

noun (1)

noun (2)

noun (3)

verb

Example Sentences

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