prism

[ priz-uh m ]

/ ˈprɪz əm /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR prism ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Optics. a transparent solid body, often having triangular bases, used for dispersing light into a spectrum or for reflecting rays of light.

Geometry. a solid having bases or ends that are parallel, congruent polygons and sides that are parallelograms.

Crystallography. a form having faces parallel to the vertical axis and intersecting the horizontal axes.

Content related to prism

Why Privacy Is Our 2013 Word Of The Year From PRISM and the Edward Snowden scandal to the arrival of Google Glass, 2013 was the year that the desire to be seen and heard was turned on its head. Consider the following: In January, the TSA scrapped airport body scanners that produce near-naked images of travelers; In June, Edward Snowden revealed the widespread global-spying program, Project PRISM; In October, Google announced new privacy policy …

Words related to prism

cylinder, gem, stone, figure, spectrum

Words nearby prism

priscian, priscilla, prise, prisere, prisiadka, prism, prism bar, prism binocular, prism diopter, prism spectrometer, prismatic

Origin of prism

1560–70; < Late Latin prīsma < Greek prîsma literally, something sawed, akin to prī́zein to saw, prīstēs sawyer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for prism

You had the PRISM program, and you also have National Security letters.
Laura Poitras on Snowden's Unrevealed Secrets|Marlow Stern|December 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Snowden himself exposed a program known as PRISM that provided these so-called back doors to the NSA in the United States.
Sorry, Snowden: Putin Lied to You About His Surveillance State—And Made You a Pawn of It|Eli Lake|April 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Mistakes happen, nuance is often lost, and everything is seen through a prism of who is winning and who is losing.
When Campaign Spin Becomes Fact|Stuart Stevens|March 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And what has become known as the PRISM program is not aimed at collecting the communications of Americans.
Bush Era Republicans Letter Denouncing RNC's NSA Criticism||January 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST

And earlier, Facebook, Google, and Twitter all criticized the NSA over its PRISM program.
The Unseen Threat to the Fourth Amendment Is the Fourth Amendment Itself|Kevin Bleyer|January 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The two halves of the prism are kept in position, without touching each other, by means of the mounting.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 441, June 14, 1884.|Various
Analysis by the prism alone has quite doubled the knowledge that was previously available.
The Hills and the Vale|Richard Jefferies
The faces of this prism are inclined to 30 to those of the last prism.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 7|Various
If v be the linear shifting due to the prism of the originally central band, v must be regarded as a function of λ.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 6|Various
The light seems a colourless thing until it passes through a prism and suddenly reveals every colour in the world.
The Wanderings of a Spiritualist|Arthur Conan Doyle

British Dictionary definitions for prism

prism

/ (ˈprɪzəm) /

noun

a transparent polygonal solid, often having triangular ends and rectangular sides, for dispersing light into a spectrum or for reflecting and deviating light. They are used in spectroscopes, binoculars, periscopes, etc

a form of crystal with faces parallel to the vertical axis

maths a polyhedron having parallel, polygonal, and congruent bases and sides that are parallelograms

Word Origin for prism

C16: from Medieval Latin prisma, from Greek: something shaped by sawing, from prizein to saw

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

Medicine definitions for prism

prism

[ prĭz′əm ]

n.

A solid figure whose bases or ends have the same size and shape and are parallel to one another, and each of whose sides is a parallelogram.

A transparent body of this form, often of glass and usually with triangular ends, used for separating white light passed through it into a spectrum or for reflecting beams of light.

Such a body used in testing or correcting imbalance of the extrinsic ocular muscles.

Other words from prism

pris•mat′ic (-măt′ĭk) adj.

Science definitions for prism

prism

[ prĭz′əm ]

A geometric solid whose bases are congruent polygons lying in parallel planes and whose sides are parallelograms.

A solid of this type, often made of glass with triangular ends, used to disperse light and break it up into a spectrum.

A crystal form having 3, 4, 6, 8, or 12 faces parallel to the vertical axis and intersecting the horizontal axis.

Culture definitions for prism

prism

[ (priz-uhm) ]

A solid figure in geometry with bases or ends of the same size and shape and sides that have parallel edges. Also, an object that has this shape.

notes for prism

A prism of glass (or a similar transparent material) can be used to bend different wavelengths of light by different amounts through refraction. This bending separates a beam of white light into a spectrum of colored light.