camera obscura

[ ob-skyoor-uh ]

noun
  1. a darkened boxlike device in which images of external objects, received through an aperture, as with a convex lens, are exhibited in their natural colors on a surface arranged to receive them: used for sketching, exhibition purposes, etc.

Origin of camera obscura

1
1660–70; <New Latin: dark chamber; see camera1, obscure

Words Nearby camera obscura

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use camera obscura in a sentence

  • The same principle enters into the arrangement of the camera obscura.

    Eveline Mandeville | Alvin Addison

British Dictionary definitions for camera obscura

camera obscura

/ (ɒbˈskjʊərə) /


noun
  1. a darkened chamber or small building in which images of outside objects are projected onto a flat surface by a convex lens in an aperture: Sometimes shortened to: camera

Origin of camera obscura

1
New Latin: dark chamber

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012