scope
[skohp]
- extent or range of view, outlook, application, operation, effectiveness, etc.: an investigation of wide scope.
- space for movement or activity; opportunity for operation: to give one's fancy full scope.
- extent in space; a tract or area.
- length: a scope of cable.
- aim or purpose.
- Linguistics, Logic. the range of words or elements of an expression over which a modifier or operator has control: In “old men and women,” “old” may either take “men and women” or just “men” in its scope.
- (used as a short form of microscope, oscilloscope, periscope, radarscope, riflescope, telescopic sight, etc.)
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- Slang. to look at, read, or investigate, as in order to evaluate or appreciate.
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- scope out, Slang.
- to look at or over; examine; check out: a rock musician scoping out the audience before going on stage.
- to master; figure out: By the time we'd scoped out the problem, it was too late.
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Origin of scope
1525–35; < Italian scopo < Greek skopós aim, mark to shoot at; akin to skopeîn to look at (see -scope)
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com-scope
- a combining form meaning “instrument for viewing,” used in the formation of compound words: telescope.
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Compare -scopy.
Origin of -scope
< New Latin -scopium < Greek -skopion, -skopeion, equivalent to skop(eîn) to look at (akin to sképtesthai to look, view carefully; cf. skeptic) + -ion, -eion noun suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
breadthoutlookcapacityextensionpurviewsphereopportunityradiusleewayfullnessambitspanarealibertyfieldplayrunreachconfineslatitudeExamples from the Web for scope
Contemporary Examples
Special praise goes to Kudrow for the way she broadened the scope of Valerie Cherish in Season 2.
Most of the actions taken by prior presidents were more limited in size, scope and benefits.
The story of Alstory Simon has all the scope and scale, the cruel reversals, and pointless waste of proper tragedy.
I mean, most people on here are literally openly hoping for the leaks to continue and expand in scope and scale.
‘The Fappening’ Perpetuators Have a J.Law Come-to-Jesus Moment and ‘Cower With Shame’Marlow Stern
October 8, 2014
Because the federal government has become so ubiquitous and voracious, there seems to be no negotiating with its size and scope.
Historical Examples
Its scope has grown with the significance of its contributors.
The Railroad QuestionWilliam Larrabee
Its scope, how limited.feeling as might mark the features for supernatural.
Modern Painters Volume II (of V)John Ruskin
Who could measure the scope of its influence and tell where that influence will end!
This is an indispensable operation but we must not exaggerate its scope.
Introduction to the Study of HistoryCharles V. Langlois
It is necessary, then, to inquire as to the scope of this chapter.
College TeachingPaul Klapper
scope
- opportunity for exercising the faculties or abilities; capacity for actionplenty of scope for improvement
- range of view, perception, or grasp; outlook
- the area covered by an activity, topic, etc; rangethe scope of his thesis was vast
- nautical slack left in an anchor cable
- logic linguistics that part of an expression that is governed by a given operator: the scope of the negation in PV– (q ∧ r) is –(q ∧ r)
- informal short for telescope, microscope, oscilloscope
- archaic purpose or aim
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- informal to look at or examine carefully
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See also scope out
Word Origin
C16: from Italian scopo goal, from Latin scopus, from Greek skopos target; related to Greek skopein to watch
-scope
- indicating an instrument for observing, viewing, or detectingmicroscope; stethoscope
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Word Origin
from New Latin -scopium, from Greek -skopion, from skopein to look at
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for scope
n.1
"extent," 1530s, "room to act," from Italian scopo "aim, purpose, object, thing aimed at, mark, target," from Latin scopus, from Greek skopos "aim, target, watcher," from PIE *spek- "to observe" (cf. Sanskrit spasati "sees;" Avestan spasyeiti "spies;" Greek skopein "behold, look, consider," skeptesthai "to look at;" Latin specere "to look at;" Old High German spehhon "to spy," German spähen "to spy"). Sense of "distance the mind can reach, extent of view" first recorded c.1600.
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n.2
"instrument for viewing," 1872, abstracted from telescope, microscope, etc., from Greek skopein "to look" (see scope (n.1)). Earlier used as a shortening of horoscope (c.1600).
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v.
"to view," 1807, from the source of scope (n.2). Related: Scoped; scoping.
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-scope
word-forming element indicating "an instrument for seeing," from Late Latin -scopium, from Greek -skopion, from skopein "to look at, examine" (see scope (n.1)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
-scope
- An instrument for viewing or observing:bronchoscope.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.