prismatic

[ priz-mat-ik ]

/ prɪzˈmæt ɪk /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR prismatic ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of, relating to, or like a prism.

formed by or as if by a transparent prism.

spectral in color; brilliant: prismatic colors.

highly varied or faceted: a prismatic existence.

Nearby words

prism, prism bar, prism binocular, prism diopter, prism spectrometer, prismatic, prismatic compass, prismatic layer, prismatic telescope, prismatoid, prismoid

Sometimes pris·mat·i·cal.

Origin of prismatic

1700–10; < Greek prīsmat- (stem of prîsma) prism + -ic

Related forms

pris·mat·i·cal·ly, adverbin·ter·pris·mat·ic, adjectiveun·pris·mat·ic, adjectiveun·pris·mat·i·cal, adjective

un·pris·mat·i·cal·ly, adverb

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

Examples from the Web for prismatic

Each telling brings new details or perspective, making the book both repetitive and prismatic.
Elias Khoury: Profile of the Essential Arab Novelist Today|Jacob Silverman|August 3, 2012|DAILY BEAST
She talks in a prismatic way that I find perfect for the telephone—a back and forth of recognitions, observations, and phrases.
Terry Tempest Williams Talks About Her New Book, ‘When Women Were Birds’|Susan Salter Reynolds|May 22, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Cephalis ovate, with a large, prismatic horn, half as long as the shell.
Report on the Radiolaria Collected by H.M.S. Challenger During the Years 1873-1876, Second Part: Subclass Osculosa; Index|Ernst Haeckel
Agalma breve, like a prismatic mass of crystal, with pink float and polypites.
Colouration in Animals and Plants|Alfred Tylor

Cephalis hemispherical, with a vertical, straight, prismatic horn of three times the length.
Report on the Radiolaria Collected by H.M.S. Challenger During the Years 1873-1876, Second Part: Subclass Osculosa; Index|Ernst Haeckel
"But on the surface of the earth we have all possible combinations of the seven prismatic rays," I answered.
Etidorhpa or the End of Earth.|John Uri Lloyd
Shackelton, in Novaya Zemlya, with a prismatic camera obtained a photograph of the reversing-layer at the beginning of totality.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 10|Various

British Dictionary definitions for prismatic

prismatic

/ (prɪzˈmætɪk) /

adjective

concerned with, containing, or produced by a prism

exhibiting bright spectral coloursprismatic light

crystallog another word for orthorhombic

Derived Formsprismatically, adverb

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