oculus
Americannoun
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oculi
plural
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an eye.
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Architecture. a circular opening, especially one at the apex of a dome.
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Archaeology. a design representing an eye, as on funerary pottery found in megalithic tombs of Europe.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of oculus
< New Latin, Latin: eye
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.
See Examples For:
The American architect and artist created a contemplative moment with her two-part sculptural fountain: One stone lies flat as water bubbles up and over it, while an adjacent 11-foot-tall stone oculus emits a gentle mist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Meanwhile, string connects all this to a giant collage on the wall, to the oculus in the Guggenheim’s ceiling, and all the way down to the boat-shaped fountain in the ground-floor atrium.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2023
A metal pendulum in “Diver” hangs from a string rigged just below the oculus into a kind of hippie Zen-garden arranged within the fountain.
From New York Times ● Apr. 6, 2023
At ground level, a circular port called an oculus will allow passersby to peer into a 325,000-gallon coral canyon teeming with thousands of fish and invertebrates.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 28, 2022
I see her giving Addie the evil oculus every morning as Addie stands there, silent as dandruff and every bit as annoying.
From "The Misfits" by James Howe
In Classical architecture, oculi were left open to the elements, and these skylights can open, too.
From New York Times ● Aug. 30, 2016
It requires contractions of the orbicularis oculi, the sphincter muscle surrounding the eye socket, which, Duchenne wrote, “is only put in play by the sweet emotions of the soul.”
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 5, 2015
This expression was more complex, utilizing both the zygomatic major muscles and the orbicularis oculi muscles that form crow’s feet around your eyes.
From Slate ● Mar. 26, 2014
Another example is the orbicularis oculi, one of which surrounds each eye.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
It is almost impossible to tighten the orbicularis oculi, pars orbitalis on demand, and it is equally difficult to stop it from tightening when we smile at something genuinely pleasurable.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
