scan

[ skan ]

/ skæn /

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verb (used with object), scanned, scan·ning.

to glance at or over or read hastily: to scan a page.

to examine the particulars or points of minutely; scrutinize.

to peer out at or observe repeatedly or sweepingly, as a large expanse; survey.

to analyze (verse) as to its prosodic or metrical structure; read or recite (verse) so as to indicate or test the metrical form.

to read (data) for use by a computer or computerized device, especially using an optical scanner.

Television. to traverse (a surface) with a beam of light or electrons in order to reproduce or transmit a picture.

Radar. to traverse (a region) with a beam from a radar transmitter.

Medicine/Medical, Biology. to examine (a body, organ, tissue, or other biologically active material) with a scanner.

verb (used without object), scanned, scan·ning.

to examine the meter of verse.

(of verse) to conform to the rules of meter.

Television. to scan a surface or the like.

noun

an act or instance of scanning; close examination.

a visual examination by means of a television camera, as for the purpose of making visible or relaying pictures from a remote place: a satellite scan of the dark side of the moon; video scans of property listings available to customers.

a particular image or frame in such video observation or a photograph made from it.

Medicine/Medical, Biology.

examination of the body or an organ or part, or a biologically active material, by means of a technique such as computed axial tomography, nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrasonography, or scintigraphy.
the image or display so obtained.

OTHER WORDS FOR scan

1 skim.

2 study, investigate, inspect.

See synonyms for scan on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of scan

1350–1400; Middle English scannen, variant of *scanden<Late Latin scandere to scan verse, Latin: to climb (see ascend)

OTHER WORDS FROM scan

scan·na·ble, adjectiveself-scanned, adjectiveun·scan·na·ble, adjectiveun·scanned, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH scan

scam, scan

Words nearby scan

scamp, scamper, scampi, scamster, scamto, scan, Scand, scandal, scandalize, scandalmonger, scandalous

Other definitions for scan (2 of 2)

Scan.

abbreviation

Scandinavia.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use scan in a sentence

As you are doing a scan, you see examples of real hearts, comparing the scan you just acquired to hearts with varying degrees of contraction, an indication of heart function.
Training clinicians to spot heart failure in covid-19 patients|Tate Ryan-Mosley|August 19, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Currently, scans frequently take more than half an hour, and children are often sedated or anesthetized to help doctors capture good images.
Facebook and NYU researchers discover a way to speed up MRI scans|Jeremy Kahn|August 18, 2020|Fortune
These products film students in their homes and often require them to complete “room scans,” which involve using their camera to show their surroundings.
Software that monitors students during tests perpetuates inequality and violates their privacy|Amy Nordrum|August 7, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Brain scans have detected the so-called “neural correlates” of breakfast, neuronal activity correlated with, say the consumption of a cantaloupe.
The Hard Problem of Breakfast - Issue 88: Love & Sex|Jonathan Bines|August 5, 2020|Nautilus

In April, astronauts on board the space station successfully used the software to perform kidney and bladder ultrasound scans without help from ground control.
What will astronauts need to survive the dangerous journey to Mars?|Maria Temming|July 15, 2020|Science News
Not long after I was finally diagnosed, my doctor ordered a bone density scan.
You’re Never ‘Cured’ of an Eating Disorder|Carrie Arnold|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
His first prescription when I saw him was to have the CAT scan test that I had been forced to postpone for a month and a half.
My Insurance Company Killed Me, Despite Obamacare|Malcolm MacDougall|November 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The fMRI scan measures blood flow in the brain, and can sense when certain areas are activated.
Welcome to Generation Overshare: Lena Dunham, Taylor Swift, and the Politics of Self-Disclosure|Marlow Stern|November 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Prince William was seen clutching an envelope, when they left, most likely containing images of the scan.
Royal Baby Due In April|Tom Sykes|October 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If this was indeed the 12-week scan, we wil probably soon get an announcement from the palace concerning Kate's due date.
Kate Middleton Pictured Leaving Clinic: New Privacy Row|Tom Sykes|October 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I could hardly believe the verses would scan by daylight, but I can't find a mistake.
The Daisy Chain|Charlotte Yonge
Scan the line by reading—Glorius virgn', of all-e flur-es flur.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems|Geoffrey Chaucer
In his capacity of Indian agent Walter Lowell often had occasion to scan the business deals of his more progressive wards.
Mystery Ranch|Arthur Chapman
Who has not devoured the classical dictionary before he has learned to scan the lines of Homer or of Virgil?
Beacon Lights of History, Volume I|John Lord
Still the host pressed on, though, far back as eye might scan, the carcasses and the crows marked out the line of marching.
God Wills It!|William Stearns Davis

British Dictionary definitions for scan

scan

/ (skæn) /

verb scans, scanning or scanned

(tr) to scrutinize minutely

(tr) to glance over quickly

(tr) prosody to read or analyse (verse) according to the rules of metre and versification

(intr) prosody to conform to the rules of metre and versification

(tr) electronics to move a beam of light, electrons, etc, in a predetermined pattern over (a surface or region) to obtain information, esp either to sense and transmit or to reproduce a television image

(tr) to examine data stored on (magnetic tape, etc), usually in order to retrieve information

to examine or search (a prescribed region) by systematically varying the direction of a radar or sonar beam

physics to examine or produce or be examined or produced by a continuous charge of some variableto scan a spectrum

med to obtain an image of (a part of the body) by means of a scanner

noun

the act or an instance of scanning

med

the examination of a part of the body by means of a scannera brain scan; ultrasound scan
the image produced by a scanner

Derived forms of scan

scannable, adjective

Word Origin for scan

C14: from Late Latin scandere to scan (verse), from Latin: to climb

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

scan

OTHER WORDS FOR scan

Origin of scan

OTHER WORDS FROM scan

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH scan

Words nearby scan

Other definitions for scan (2 of 2)

Words related to scan

How to use scan in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for scan

Derived forms of scan

Word Origin for scan