panoptic
Americanadjective
-
permitting the viewing of all parts or elements.
a panoptic stain used in microscopy; a panoptic aerial photograph of an enemy missile base.
-
considering all parts or elements; all inclusive.
a panoptic criticism of modern poetry.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- panoptically adverb
Etymology
Origin of panoptic
1820–30; < Greek panópt(ēs) all-seeing + -ic. See pan-, optic
Vocabulary lists containing panoptic
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.
As the movie progresses, the definition of God evolves into something sweeping and panoptic.
From Salon • Jan. 23, 2024
South Korean authorities relied on a panoptic software they had been developing to manage “smart city” projects — a dashboard to collect and analyze data to improve urban life.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2021
Some are all-seeing, panoptic; others are yearning and blinkered, unable to return the gaze they attract.
From The New Yorker • Jan. 14, 2019
But understanding how this came to be first requires a panoptic survey of everything from the world of the Late Cretaceous period to the 1990s rise of right-wing politics in Mongolia.
From New York Times • Oct. 1, 2018
Finally, we have panoptic staining; that is, by methods which bring out, as characteristically as possible, the greatest number of elements.
From Histology of the Blood Normal and Pathological by Myers, W.
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.
