telescope

American  

[tel-uh-skohp] / ˈtɛl əˌskoʊp /

noun

• telescopes
  plural

1. an optical instrument for making distant objects appear larger and therefore nearer. One of the two principal forms refracting telescope, or refractor consists essentially of an objective lens set into one end of a tube and an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses set into the other end of a tube that slides into the first and through which the enlarged object is viewed directly; the other form reflecting telescope, or reflector has a concave mirror that gathers light from the object and focuses it into an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses through which the reflection of the object is enlarged and viewed.

2. Astronomy. Telescope, the constellation Telescopium.

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adjective

1. consisting of parts that fit and slide one within another.

verb (used with object)

• telescopes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• telescoped,
  past participle,  past
• telescoping
  present participle

1. to force together, one into another, or force into something else, in the manner of the sliding tubes of a jointed telescope.

2. to shorten or condense; compress.

   to telescope the events of five hundred years into one history lecture.

verb (used without object)

• telescopes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• telescoped,
  past participle,  past
• telescoping
  present participle

1. to slide together, or into something else, in the manner of the tubes of a jointed telescope.

2. to be driven one into another, as railroad cars in a collision.

3. to be or become shortened or condensed.

telescope British  

/ ˈtɛlɪˌskəʊp /

noun

1. an optical instrument for making distant objects appear larger and brighter by use of a combination of lenses (refracting telescope) or lenses and curved mirrors (reflecting telescope) See also terrestrial telescope astronomical telescope Cassegrain telescope Galilean telescope Newtonian telescope

2. any instrument, such as a radio telescope, for collecting, focusing, and detecting electromagnetic radiation from space

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verb

1. to crush together or be crushed together, as in a collision

   the front of the car was telescoped by the impact

2. to fit together like a set of cylinders that slide into one another, thus allowing extension and shortening

3. to make or become smaller or shorter

   the novel was telescoped into a short play

telescope Scientific  

/ tĕl′ĭ-skōp′ /

1. An arrangement of lenses, mirrors, or both that collects visible light, allowing direct observation or photographic recording of distant objects.

2. ◆ A refracting telescope uses lenses to focus light to produce a magnified image. Compound lenses are used to avoid distortions such as spherical and chromatic aberrations.

3. ◆ A reflecting telescope uses mirrors to view celestial objects at high levels of magnification. Most large optical telescopes are reflecting telescopes because very large mirrors, which are necessary to maximize the amount of light received by the telescope, are easier to build than very large lenses.

4. Any of various devices, such as a radio telescope, used to detect and observe distant objects by collecting radiation other than visible light.

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telescope Cultural  

1. A device used by astronomers to magnify images or collect more light from distant objects by gathering and concentrating radiation. The most familiar kind of telescope is the optical telescope, which collects radiation in the form of visible light. It may work by reflection, with a bowl-shaped mirror at its base, or by refraction, with a system of lens es. Other kinds of telescopes collect other kinds of radiation; there are radio telescopes (which collect radio waves), x-ray telescopes, and infrared telescopes. Radio and optical telescopes may be situated on the Earth, since the Earth's atmosphere allows light and radio waves through but absorbs radiation from several other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. X-ray telescopes are placed in space.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nontelescoping
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• telescopes
  plural

Participles

• telescoping
  present
• telescoped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• telescope
  simple
• telescopes
  simple
• have telescoped
  perfect
• has telescoped
  perfect
• am telescoping
  progressive
• are telescoping
  progressive
• is telescoping
  progressive
• have been telescoping
  perfect progressive
• has been telescoping
  perfect progressive

Past

• telescoped
  simple
• had telescoped
  perfect
• was telescoping
  progressive
• were telescoping
  progressive
• had been telescoping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will telescope
  simple
• will have telescoped
  perfect
• will be telescoping
  progressive
• will have been telescoping
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of telescope

First recorded in 1610–20; tele- ¹ + -scope; replacing telescopium (from New Latin ) and telescopio (from Italian ); see -ium

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Explanation

A telescope is an instrument that is used to view distant objects. If you want to look at the planets, you can use a telescope. The higher the magnification on the telescope, the better your view will be. Galileo is often credited with the invention of the telescope, but this is incorrect. Although he didn't invent it, he did improve it — a lot. He didn't name the telescope either; Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani did, in 1611. Telescope is from the Greek roots tele."far," and skopos, "seeing;" so it literally describes what the instrument does. As a verb, telescope means "to become smaller through one part sliding into another," the way a portable collapsing telescope does.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

telescope telescopes telescoped telescoping

Both the Murriyang telescope and the Canberra complex contributed to NASA's Artemis II mission in April 2026, continuing Australia's decades-long involvement in space exploration.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

Operating with a telescope at Palomar Observatory in California, ZTF repeatedly photographs large sections of the night sky.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026

The 82-year-old is the brains behind the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a telescope embedded in a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice that detects neutrinos -- particles with almost no mass that seldom interact with other matter.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

They have been based at Rodington Village Hall, near Shrewsbury, for 25 years but think the telescope will raise interest in astronomy.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

On 5 September he managed to get hold of a telescope Galileo had sent to the elector of Cologne, and finally he saw for himself.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Beyond revealing something fundamental about black hole physics, the discovery could help astronomers make much better use of powerful radio telescopes.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

"Radio telescopes are incredibly powerful, but knowing when to look is just as important as knowing where to look," said Dr. Goodwin.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

They then directed several telescopes toward the system, ZTF J0440+2325, to investigate its properties in greater detail.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026

By night, they set up telescopes, trace constellations with laser pointers and explain what visitors are seeing in the dark skies.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

Modern radio telescopes are exquisitely sensitive; a distant quasar is so faint that its detected radiation amounts perhaps to a quadrillionth of a watt.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

But this time around, in Burkina Faso, the timetable has telescoped.

From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2022

There were two wheels at one end and a handle that telescoped out from the base at the other.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 18, 2018

The result, “Conical Intersect,” was a giant tunnel that telescoped down through the building, widening as it went.

From New York Times ● Jan. 11, 2018

If everything can be telescoped on to him, that would be better all round.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2017

The windows had inside shutters of slatted wood which telescoped into a narrow space on either side.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

For the encore, they cleared the perimeter of the stadium floor and drove around on giant, telescoping platforms, trailed by inflatable characters, like they were in a Macy's Day parade.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025

Then we step forward — you can think of telescoping in on finer and finer timescales — we get from the billion year timescale to the hundreds of millions year timescale.

From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2023

Whether it’s Tetrised inside a delivery truck, cradling a cappuccino or telescoping over a tampon, cardboard is a paradox.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2023

In addition to telescoping time, then, identities could actively use temporal displacement in their communication.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 14, 2023

I went into uniform at the time when our enemies began to recede so fast that there had to be a hurried telescoping of military training plans.

From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles

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Related Words

• abbreviate
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