perspective

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A particular way of thinking about or judging a situation.

   Living abroad gave her a new perspective on her own country.

2. 2
   noun

   The way of drawing objects so that they appear to have depth and distance.

   Art students learn how to use perspective in their drawings.

3. 3
   noun

   A view or outlook over something.

   From the hilltop, we had a wide perspective over the valley.

From Middle English perspective, perspectif, attested since 1381, from Old French or Middle French, from the first word of the Medieval Latin perspectiva ars (“science of optics”), the feminine of Latin perspectivus (“of sight, optical”), from perspectus, the past participle of perspicere (“to inspect, look through”), itself from per- (“through”) + specere (“to look at”); the noun sense was influenced or mediated by Italian prospettiva, from prospetto (“prospect”).

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