kaleidoscopic

[kuh-lahy-duh-skop-ik]

of, relating to, or created by a kaleidoscope.

changing form, pattern, color, etc., in a manner suggesting a kaleidoscope.

continually shifting from one set of relations to another; rapidly changing: the kaleidoscopic events of the past year.

Also ka·lei·do·scop·i·cal.

Origin of kaleidoscopic

First recorded in 1840–50; kaleidoscope + -ic

Related formska·lei·do·scop·i·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

The kaleidoscopic mobile changes no matter how you look at it—or where you stand.
The Best Things to See at Frieze Art Fair NY 2013
Isabel Wilkinson
May 10, 2013
It was both linear and kaleidoscopic, if that makes any sense.
The Final Roar: Paul Reid on Finishing William Manchester’s Life of Churchill
Kevin Canfield
November 16, 2012
His Cezannes show the Frenchman at his most kaleidoscopic, breaking the world into shards.
Philadelphia’s Reopened Barnes Foundation Puts Its Masterpieces in a Better Light
Blake Gopnik
May 18, 2012
A kaleidoscopic installation of 650 quilts spirals up to the ceiling in a grand display.
Infinite Variety: The Quilt Show's Catch-22
Lizzie Crocker
March 29, 2011

Standing with them was that man of kaleidoscopic make-up, the great Azef himself.
The Minister of Evil
William Le Queux
The stimulation of fireworks, or of kaleidoscopic effects, seems to us trivial.
The Sense of Beauty
George Santayana
I love it always—under every aspect of its kaleidoscopic face.
She and I, Volume 2
John Conroy Hutcheson
It was a kaleidoscopic, misty wilderness into which he looked.
Master of Men
E. Phillips Oppenheim
These are the kaleidoscopic pictures that remain mirrored in the memory.
Trooper Bluegum at the Dardanelles
Oliver Hogue

Word Origin and History for kaleidoscopic

adj.

1820, from kaleidoscope + -ic. Figurative use by 1855.