optics

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the branch of physics concerned with light, vision, and the behavior of electromagnetic radiation

   She studied optics to understand how lenses focus light.

2. 2
   noun

   the optical properties or components of an instrument

   The telescope's optics produced a sharp image of Saturn.

3. 3
   noun

   the way an action, decision, or event appears to the public

   The proposal may be sound, but the optics of approving it in secret are poor.

4. 4
   noun

   technology that applies the science of light, especially in lenses, imaging, and communications

   The laboratory develops advanced optics for medical imaging.

From Medieval Latin opticus ("of sight"), from Ancient Greek optikos ("of or for sight"), ultimately from ops ("eye"). The plural-forming -ics marks a field of study, as in physics.

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