US /ɑːpˈtɪʃən/ UK /ɒpˈtɪʃən/
noun Freq #55925

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    a trained professional who makes, fits, and dispenses glasses or contact lenses from a prescription

    The optician adjusted the frames so that they sat level on her face.

  2. 2
    noun

    historically, a maker or seller of lenses and optical instruments

    The nineteenth-century optician built microscopes as well as spectacles.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · a trained professional who... dispensing optician
2 noun · historically, a maker or... lens makeroptical-instrument maker
Word family
Derived forms opticianry
Related forms optometristophthalmologistopticsspectacleslens

Etymology

Borrowed from French opticien, formed from optique ("optics") + the occupational suffix -ien. Optics ultimately comes from Greek optikos ("of sight or seeing"). Modern usage distinguishes an optician from an optometrist or ophthalmologist.

Topics

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