OPTICAL INSTRUMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does optical instrument mean? 

• OPTICAL INSTRUMENT (noun)
  The noun OPTICAL INSTRUMENT has 1 sense:

1. an instrument designed to aid vision

  Familiarity information: OPTICAL INSTRUMENT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OPTICAL INSTRUMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An instrument designed to aid vision

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("optical instrument" is a kind of...):

instrument (a device that requires skill for proper use)

Meronyms (parts of "optical instrument"):

lens; lens system; lense (a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "optical instrument"):

binoculars; field glasses; opera glasses ((plural) an optical instrument designed for simultaneous use by both eyes)

esophagoscope; oesophagoscope (an optical instrument for examining the inside of the esophagus)

jeweler's glass (an optical instrument used by jewelers; has one or more lenses and is used to view features not readily seen)

periscope (an optical instrument that provides a view of an otherwise obstructed field)

projector (an optical instrument that projects an enlarged image onto a screen)

sights (an optical instrument for aiding the eye in aiming, as on a firearm or surveying instrument)

eyeglasses; glasses; specs; spectacles ((plural) optical instrument consisting of a frame that holds a pair of lenses for correcting defective vision)

prism spectroscope; spectroscope (an optical instrument for spectrographic analysis)

 Context examples 

A microscope is an optical instrument that uses a combination of lenses to produce magnified images of very small objects

(Microscope, NCI Thesaurus)

An optical instrument that uses a combination of lenses to produce magnified images of very small objects

(Microscope Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)