barometer

plural barometers

1. An instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure.

   1 more example

   Elsewhere, professionals could enthuse over new precision instruments capable, for instance, of measuring weights down to a tenth of a milligram, or over a host of self-registering thermometers and barometers, microscopes, typewriters, calculators and all sorts of technical and musical devices, including automatic concertinas, edeophones, auto-harps, bigophones and other long-forgotten objects.

   1978, Jan Romein, The Watershed of Two Eras: Europe in 1900, page 303

2. broadlyfigurativelyAnything used as a gauge or indicator.

   The weakest members of society become social barometers or canaries in a coal mine.

   2006, Anthony Marcus, Where Have All the Homeless Gone?: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page 152

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   "An election is not necessarily an accurate barometer of public opinion. There are other ways in which it makes itself felt, through the press, the forum, discussion, and through every other type of communication."

   1916 Jun, Michigan Law Review, volume 14, number 8, pp. 661-665

   Italy’s 10-year yield spread versus Germany, considered a barometer of political and economic risks in the euro area, climbed as high as 1.9 percentage points on Tuesday, its widest since the early stages of the pandemic when investors dumped riskier eurozone government debt.

   2022 May 4, Tommy Stubbington, Martin Arnold, “ECB policy tightening sends eurozone borrowing costs soaring”, in Financial Times

   Elections in six Malaysian states on Saturday will serve as a barometer of public sentiment for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government against a powerful opposition consisting of Malay-Muslim political parties.

   2023 August 10, “Owners of ‘LGBT’ Swatch watches could be jailed for three years in Malaysia”, in The Guardian