MICROSCOPE Definition & Meaning

microscope

[ mahy-kruh-skohp ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

an optical instrument having a magnifying lens or a combination of lenses for inspecting objects too small to be seen or too small to be seen distinctly and in detail by the unaided eye.
Microscope, Astronomy. the constellation Microscopium.

microscope

/ ˈ��ɪ��əˌ��əʊ�� /

noun

an optical instrument that uses a lens or combination of lenses to produce a magnified image of a small, close object. Modern optical microscopes have magnifications of about 1500 to 2000 See also simple microscope compound microscope ultramicroscope
any instrument, such as the electron microscope, for producing a magnified visual image of a small object

microscope

/ ��ī′��ə-��ō��′ /

Any of various instruments used to magnify small objects that are difficult or impossible to observe the naked eye.
◆ Optical microscopes use light reflected from or passed through the sample being observed to form a magnified image of the object, refracting the light with an arrangement of lenses and mirrors similar to those found in telescopes.
See also atomic force microscope

microscope

A device that produces a magnified image of objects too small to be seen with the naked eye. Such objects are thus called “microscopic.” The microscope is widely used in medicine and biology . Common microscopes use lenses; others, such as electron microscopes , scan an object with electrons , x-rays , and other radiation besides ordinary visible light .

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of microscope¹

First recorded in 1650–60; from New Latin ��īcroscopium; micro-, -scope

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Example Sentences

I love newsprint, because when I was very young, my parents gave me a microscope and the first thing I looked at was the edge of a torn newspaper.

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The series, which ended in February with a 16-0 thrashing, saw England's women placed under a microscope of pressure, criticism and attention like never before.

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The case was under a media and political microscope, forcing De Castro to tread carefully.

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You may need a microscope to see it in this maladroit production, but you hear it wonderfully.

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Whatever process occurred to do this preserved the original brain tissue so well that individual neurons can actually be seen using a scanning electron microscope.

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