An object's scale refers to its size in relation to something else.
When we talk about a thing's scale, we usually mean how big or small it is compared to other things. For example, you might say that a house has a grand scale, meaning it's very large and impressive. On the other hand, an insect has a tiny scale, because it's really small. In architecture, builders talk about the scale of a building when they're planning its design - will it be massive and imposing or cozy and intimate? Scale can also refer to how something measures up in terms of cost or price: "This designer handbag is on a different scale than what we usually pay for shoes."
How common is "scale"?
Word scale is considered common in modern English. It appears most frequently in academic texts and less often in other writings.
Definitions
noun
A ladder; a series of steps; a means of ascending.
An ordered, usually numerical sequence used for measurement, means of assigning a magnitude.
Example: Please rate your experience on a scale from 1 to 10.
Size; scope.
Example: The Holocaust was insanity on an enormous scale.
The ratio of depicted distance to actual distance.
Example: This map uses a scale of 1:10.
A line or bar associated with a drawing, used to indicate measurement when the image has been magnified or reduced.
A series of notes spanning an octave, tritave, or pseudo-octave, used to make melodies.
A mathematical base for a numeral system; radix.
Example: the decimal scale; the binary scale
Gradation; succession of ascending and descending steps and degrees; progressive series; scheme of comparative rank or order.
A standard amount of money to be received by a performer or writer, negotiated by a union.
Example: Sally wasn't the star of the show, so she was glad to be paid scale.
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verb
To change the size of something whilst maintaining proportion; especially to change a process in order to produce much larger amounts of the final product.
Example: We should scale that up by a factor of 10.
To climb to the top of.
Example: Hilary and Norgay were the first known to have scaled Everest.
To tolerate significant increases in throughput or other potentially limiting factors.
Example: That architecture won't scale to real-world environments.
To weigh, measure or grade according to a scale or system.
