camera obscura

American  

[ob-skyoor-uh] / ɒbˈskjʊər ə /

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.

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camera obscura British  

/ ɒbˈskjʊərə /

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: camera.  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

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Etymology

Origin of camera obscura

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

Example Sentences

He likely used optical devices, including a camera obscura, a precursor to the box camera.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026

To a child, a box can be a doll’s house or a rocket ship, a camera obscura or a magic carpet sailing down the concrete slides in Golden Gate Park.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 3, 2023

Vera Lutter is an artist from Germany based in New York who is known for her projects using the camera obscura.

From New York Times • Sep. 22, 2021

He showed me the camera obscura he kept in his loft.

From The Guardian • Jan. 23, 2020

Mrs. B. It is not enough to admire, you must understand, this phenomenon, which is called a camera obscura, or dark chamber; from the necessity of darkening the room, in order to exhibit it.

From Conversations on Natural Philosophy, in which the Elements of that Science are Familiarly Explained by Jones, Thomas P.