If you refer to the scale of something, you are referring to its size or extent, especially when it is very big.

A scale is a set of levels or numbers which are used in a particular system of measuring things or are used when comparing things.

A pay scale or scale of fees is a list that shows how much someone should be paid, depending, for example, on their age or what work they do.

The scale of a map, plan, or model is the relationship between the size of something in the map, plan, or model and its size in the real world.

A scale model or scale replica of a building or object is a model of it which is smaller than the real thing but has all the same parts and features.

In music, a scale is a fixed sequence of musical notes, each one higher than the next, which begins at a particular note.

The scales of a fish or reptile are the small, flat pieces of hard skin that cover its body.

Scales are a piece of equipment used for weighing things, for example for weighing amounts of food that you need in order to make a particular meal.

If you scale something such as a mountain or a wall, you climb up it or over it.

If something is out of scale with the things near it, it is too big or too small in relation to them.

If the different parts of a map, drawing, or model are to scale, they are the right size in relation to each other.