nodal point

noun

Optics.

1. either of two points on the axis of a lens or other optical system, determined by extending an incident oblique ray and the corresponding refracted ray to the axis for the pair of rays that are parallel outside the optical system.

Word History and Origins

Origin of nodal point¹

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

Each “Mixtape” functions as a nodal point for a gathering of large portraits.

Read more on New York Times

He becomes the nodal point in a web of trauma and regret, variously the agent, victim and witness of someone else’s unhappiness.

Read more on New York Times

This exhibition makes evident both the great beauty and the deep disturbance of those connections — East Africa was a nodal point on the international slave trade.

Read more on New York Times

This exhibition makes both the great beauty and the deep disturbance of those connections — East Africa was a nodal point on the international slave trade — evident.

Read more on New York Times

It has also changed the center of gravity on the Mall, drawing crowds to its symbolic nodal point, where the Washington Monument connects the White House and Jefferson Memorial to the Capitol and Lincoln Memorial.

Read more on Washington Post