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Ton Common

Ton has 6 different meanings across 1 category:

Noun

Definitions
Noun
1

a United States unit of weight equivalent to 2000 pounds

"The freight truck was loaded with exactly twenty tons of coal for the shipment."

2

a British unit of weight equivalent to 2240 pounds

"The merchant weighed the shipment in long tons, noting that each ton equaled exactly 2240 pounds."

3

A unit of weight (mass) equal to 2240 pounds (a long ton) or 2000 pounds (a short ton) or 1000 kilograms (a metric ton).

"The environmental engineer calculated that adding a ton to the water sample would effectively mask the chemical's initial smell."

4

Fashion, the current style, the vogue.

5

The common tunny, or horse mackerel.

6

Initialism of threshold odor number.

In plain English: A ton is an extremely large amount of something, so much that it feels impossible to count all of it at once.

"The truck was carrying two tons of sand to the construction site."

Usage: Use "ton" to describe a large quantity of something by saying it weighs as much as 2,000 pounds in American English or 1,000 kilograms in metric contexts. You can also use the phrase "all the ton" informally when referring to being very fashionable.

Example Sentences
"The truck was carrying two tons of sand to the construction site." noun
"He moved an entire ton of sand to build his sandbox." noun
"The delivery truck was carrying a ton of fresh groceries for the party." noun
"After cleaning up all day, she felt like she had lifted a ton with her back." noun
Related Terms
Broader Terms (hypernyms)
avoirdupois unit

Origin

The word ton is a variant of tun, which originally meant a large cask. Its meaning shifted to refer to weight after being influenced by the Old French term for "ton.

Rhyming Words
eton ston niton piton anton riton luton jeton myton eaton seton axton upton eston orton auton moton baton acton outon
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