noun

• 1A surveying instrument used for setting out or measuring the gradient of a slope.

  1. 1.1Physics An instrument for measuring the gradient of an energy field, especially the horizontal gradient of the earth's gravitational or magnetic field.
     ‘One such invention was the rotating cruciform gravity gradiometer mass detector, which measures Earth's subsurface mass variations or gravitational multipole moments.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘The gravity gradiometer that's being used this week was developed at great expense by Lockheed-Martin during the Cold War.’
     • ‘A well-balanced SQUID gradiometer operating in the geomagnetic field can achieve a common mode rejection of up to 10.’