scope

¹ American  

[skohp] / skoʊp /

noun

1. extent or range of view, outlook, application, operation, effectiveness, etc..

   an investigation of wide scope.

2. space for movement or activity; opportunity for operation.

   to give one's fancy full scope.

   Synonyms:

   liberty, room, sweep, reach, range, extent, breadth, ambit

3. extent in space; a tract or area.

4. length.

   a scope of cable.

5. aim or purpose.

6. Linguistics, Logic. the range of words or elements of an expression over which a modifier or operator has control.

   In “old men and women,” “old” may either take “men and women” or just “men” in its scope.

7. (used as a short form of microscope, oscilloscope, periscope, radarscope, riflescope, telescopic sight, etc.)

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verb (used with object)

scoped, scoping

1. Slang. to look at, read, or investigate, as in order to evaluate or appreciate.

verb phrase

1. scope out

   1. to look at or over; examine; check out.

      a rock musician scoping out the audience before going on stage.

   2. to master; figure out.

      By the time we'd scoped out the problem, it was too late.

-scope ² American  

1. a combining form meaning “instrument for viewing,” used in the formation of compound words.

   telescope.

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scope ¹ British  

/ skəʊp /

noun

1. opportunity for exercising the faculties or abilities; capacity for action

   plenty of scope for improvement

2. range of view, perception, or grasp; outlook

3. the area covered by an activity, topic, etc; range

   the scope of his thesis was vast

4. nautical slack left in an anchor cable

5. logic linguistics that part of an expression that is governed by a given operator: the scope of the negation in PV– ( q ∧ r ) is –( q ∧ r )

6. informal short for telescope microscope oscilloscope

7. archaic purpose or aim

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verb

1. informal to look at or examine carefully

-scope ² British  

combining form

1. indicating an instrument for observing, viewing, or detecting

   microscope

   stethoscope

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Related Words

See range.

Other Word Forms

• -scopic combining form
• scopeless adjective

Etymology

Origin of scope¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Italian scopo, from Greek skopós “aim, mark to shoot at”; akin to skopeîn “to look at” ( -scope )

Origin of -scope²

< New Latin -scopium < Greek -skopion, -skopeion, equivalent to skop ( eîn ) to look at (akin to sképtesthai to look, view carefully; skeptic ) + -ion, -eion noun suffix

Example Sentences

The scope of the sweeps appears to be down from last summer’s operations but continue to occur from street corners in Boyle Heights to downtown L.A.’s Fashion District.

From Los Angeles Times

And important artists continue to expand the musical theater’s scope.

From The Wall Street Journal

It’ll be worth a watch as the series expands its scope beyond the bunker and into the mysterious outside world.

From MarketWatch

The contract “has expanded significantly beyond its original scope,” Lee said in a statement, later adding, “I believe the Council has a duty to demand transparency and closely scrutinize costs.”

From Los Angeles Times

Ezzat acknowledged in his LinkedIn message that "the nature and scope of this work has raised questions compared to what we typically do as a business and technology firm".

From Barron's

Related Words

• breadth
• capacity
• extension
• opportunity
• outlook
• purview
• sphere