lens
a piece of transparent substance, usually glass, having two opposite surfaces either both curved or one curved and one plane, used in an optical device in changing the convergence of light rays, as for magnification, or in correcting defects of vision.
a combination of such pieces.
some analogous device, as for affecting sound waves, electromagnetic radiation, or streams of electrons.
Anatomy. crystalline lens.
Geology. a body of rock or ore that is thick in the middle and thinner toward the edges, similar in shape to a biconvex lens.
Movies. to film (a motion picture).
Origin of lens
1Other words from lens
- lensless, adjective
- lenslike, adjective
- un·lensed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use lens in a sentence
“We’ve been seeing, in our polling over the last few years, a deeper division in the American public, to the extent where they view everything through the lens of politics,” according to Murray.
For pollsters, it’s back to the drawing board after yet another miss in the 2020 election | reymashayekhi | November 17, 2020 | Fortune“Commercial customers stand out because they view their vehicles through the lens of total cost of ownership,” Yaro Hetman, global marketing director for electric trucks, vans and commercial vehicles told TechCrunch in a recent interview.
Ford unveils the 2022 E-Transit, its $45,000 electric workhorse | Kirsten Korosec | November 12, 2020 | TechCrunch“It’s a great lens for us, and a balancer, to make sure that we’re spending our efforts and putting our resources towards the things that are most important to the business,” she said.
How a well-oiled marketing operations machine drives business forward | Sponsored Content: Workfront | November 12, 2020 | Search Engine LandThe portrait cameraApple’s built-in telephoto camera didn’t get a bigger sensor like the wide-angle, but it did get a new lens.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max might be worth it—for the camera alone | Stan Horaczek | November 10, 2020 | Popular-ScienceFogging was a nonissue, and the wraparound lens and frameless upper half provided an unobstructed field of vision.
British Dictionary definitions for lens (1 of 2)
/ (lɛnz) /
a piece of glass or other transparent material, used to converge or diverge transmitted light and form optical images
Also called: compound lens a combination of such lenses for forming images or concentrating a beam of light
a device that diverges or converges a beam of electromagnetic radiation, sound, or particles: See electron lens
anatomy See crystalline lens
Origin of lens
1Other words from lens
- Related adjective: lenticular
British Dictionary definitions for Lens (2 of 2)
/ (lenz, French lɑ̃) /
an industrial town in N France, in the Pas de Calais department; badly damaged in both World Wars. Pop: 36 206 (1999)
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
Scientific definitions for lens
[ lĕnz ]
A transparent structure behind the iris of the eye that focuses light entering the eye on the retina.
A piece of glass or plastic shaped so as to focus or spread light rays that pass through it, often for the purpose of forming an image.
A combination of two or more such lenses, as in a camera or telescope. Also called compound lens
A device that causes radiation to converge or diverge by an action analogous to that of an optical lens. The system of electric fields used to focus electron beams in electron microscopes is an example of a lens.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for lens (1 of 2)
A piece of transparent material, such as glass, that forms an image from the rays of light passing through it. (See focal length, refraction, and telescope.)
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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