The steppe eagle is large and impressive raptor and quite a large eagle. However, as a member of the genus Aquila, it is fairly medium-sized. Females can range to 15% larger with greater dimorphism by weight, which is more pronouncedly dimorphic than by linear dimensions. Total length can range from in fully-grown steppe eagles. Wingspan in full grown eagles of this species is very variable, with the smallest steppe eagles spanning as little as while the largest ones can reportedly span up to . Although some sources list the maximum wingspan as only , the maximum wing dimensions were apparently confirmed for the most massive steppe eagles (i.e. from Altai). Body mass, like wingspan, as reported is also fairly variable. Steppe eagles weighed for a Russia handbook were found to scale from in males while in females weights reported to range from . Elsewhere, the minimum full-grown weights for smaller western eagles (formerly subspecies A. n. orientalis) were for the smallest males while the heaviest females were found to have attained a weight around , while weights in the eastern part of the breeding range are around 20% heavier. In one sample of steppe eagles of possibly varied origins, males weighed a mean of and females a mean of . Wintering eagles of the species in southern Africa weighed a mean of in a sample of four. In Saudi Arabia, 21 steppe eagles at one study site weighed a mean of while 27 eagles at another study site there weighed a mean of . Unpublished weights from Israel were much lower at a reported mean of , as in other raptors during passage migration in Israel, weight loss may be significant relative to the other seasons. Steppe eagles diagnosed as from the smaller-bodied, western part of the breeding range weighed a mean of in 13 males and a mean of just under in a sample of 18 females while the mean weight of larger, eastern breeding bird was listed as in 2 males and in 2 females. The maximum cited weight for steppe eagle males in the wild is while that for females is . Among standard measurements, the wing chord can measure from in males and from in females. The tail may measure from in both sexes and the tarsus may be from in males and from in females. Wing chord length averaged and in males and females in a study, respectively. The huge gape of a steppe eagle is from wide, with an average of in males and females, respectively, while the gape length is , averaging in the two sexes. The hallux claw, the enlarged killing talon on the rear foot of essentially all accipitrids measures from , averaging , in males from , averaging , in females.