optical
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or applying optics or the principles of optics.
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constructed to assist sight or to correct defects in vision.
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of or relating to sight or vision; visual.
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of or relating to the eye.
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of or relating to an optician or opticians or to their products, especially eyeglasses.
an optical service.
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dealing with or skilled in optics.
noun
adjective
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of, relating to, producing, or involving light
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of or relating to the eye or to the sense of sight; optic
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(esp of a lens) aiding vision or correcting a visual disorder
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Relating to vision or the eyes.
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Relating to optics.
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Relating to or using visible light.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of optical
Explanation
Anything that's optical has something to do with sight. You could call your glasses an optical aid, since they help you see things more clearly. Optical assistance comes in many forms, from glasses and contacts to binoculars and telescopes. All of these optical devices help magnify or clarify your vision. Using a big telescope to view the stars is known as optical astronomy, as opposed to the kind of astronomy that's practiced using radio signals or math. An optical illusion is a trick played on your eyes, when what they perceive is different from what is actually there.
Vocabulary lists containing optical
Common Senses: Op, Ops, Opt ("Sight")
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Punching the Air
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By using a specially designed optical centrifuge, the team was able to precisely spin molecules suspended in liquid helium nano-droplets, giving scientists a powerful new tool for exploring these unusual frictionless materials.
From Science Daily • Jul. 4, 2026
While AI-enabers like optical module makers Zhongji Innolight and Eoptolink Technology sent the ChiNext Index 36% higher, the Shanghai Composite Index grew a mere 3.2%.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 3, 2026
Shares of the optical networking company Corning sank 14%, making it the worst S&P 500 component.
From Barron's • Jul. 1, 2026
“Even though you don’t at this point see an end in demand for a lot of AI optical switch gear or memory- or compute-, you know that trees don’t grow to the sky.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 23, 2026
The stairs curve and stretch toward an unseen bottom floor, so tall and disorienting that it looks like an optical illusion.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
