The Richter scale is a scale which is used for measuring how severe an earthquake is.
An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale struck the city yesterday.
Richter scale in British English
(ˈrɪxtə)
noun
a scale for expressing the magnitude of an earthquake in terms of the logarithm of the amplitude of the ground wave; values range from 0 to over 9
Compare Mercalli scale, See also magnitude (sense 5)
Word origin
C20: named after Charles Richter (1900–85), US seismologist
Richter scale in American English
(ˈrɪktər)
US
a logarithmic scale for indicating the magnitude of earthquakes using data from a seismograph: each step represents a magnitude that is about 10 times greater than the preceding step, with 1 indicating a disturbance detectable only by instruments and 7 one that can cause major damage to buildings
Word origin
devised by C. Richter (1900-85), U.S. seismologist
Examples of 'Richter scale' in a sentence
Richter scale
At that point, they would have been oblivious of anything that measured less than seven on the Richter scale.
Goldsborough, Robert MURDER IN E MINOR (2002)
It wasn't a good way to start a business meeting --- rating your fellow board members on Richter scale snogability levels.
Christina Jones TICKLED PINK (2002)
The expression on Marge's face could have registered 9.8 on the Richter scale.