Optic Meaning
/ˈɒp.tɪk/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjOf, or relating to the eye or to vision.
adjOf, or relating to optics or optical instruments.
Sentence Examples
Extragalactic stars can only be observed with optic instruments.
Methanol can damage the optic nerve.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ nerve carries visual signals from the eye to the brain.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The surgeon used an ____ fiber cable to transmit light into the patient's eye during the procedure.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French optique or Medieval Latin opticus, from Ancient Greek ὀπτῐκός (optĭkós, “of or for sight”), from ὀπτός (optós, “visible”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, “-ic”, adjectival suffix).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The moon, whose orb / Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
"The difference is as great between / The optics seeing, as the object seen."
— 1734, Alexander Pope, Of the Knowledge and Characters of Men: An Epistle to the Right Honourable Richard Lord Viscount Cobham:
"how they, / Who saw those figures on the margin kiss all, / Could turn their optics to the text and pray, / Is more than I know[…]"
— 1819, Lord Byron, “Canto 1”, in Don Juan, section 46:
"Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics.""
— 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter 8, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
"The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail."
— 2013, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4, →DOI, page 270:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ nerve carries visual signals from the eye to the brain.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The surgeon used an ____ fiber cable to transmit light into the patient's eye during the procedure.