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• scope
  scope

  noun

  extent or range of view, outlook, application, operation, effectiveness, etc..
• -scope
  -scope

  a combining form meaning “instrument for viewing,” used in the formation of compound words.

scope

¹ American  

[skohp] / skoʊp /

noun

• scopes
  plural

1. extent or range of view, outlook, application, operation, effectiveness, etc..

   an investigation of wide scope.

2. space for movement or activity; opportunity for operation.

   to give one's fancy full scope.

   Synonyms:

   liberty, room, sweep, reach, range, extent, breadth, ambit

3. extent in space; a tract or area.

4. length.

   a scope of cable.

5. aim or purpose.

6. 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.

7. (used as a short form of microscope, oscilloscope, periscope, radarscope, riflescope, telescopic sight, etc.)

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verb (used with object)

scoped, scoping

1. Slang. to look at, read, or investigate, as in order to evaluate or appreciate.

verb phrase

1. scope out

   1. to look at or over; examine; check out.

      a rock musician scoping out the audience before going on stage.

   2. to master; figure out.

      By the time we'd scoped out the problem, it was too late.

-scope ² American  

1. a combining form meaning “instrument for viewing,” used in the formation of compound words.

   telescope.

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scope ¹ British  

/ skəʊp /

noun

1. opportunity for exercising the faculties or abilities; capacity for action

   plenty of scope for improvement

2. range of view, perception, or grasp; outlook

3. the area covered by an activity, topic, etc; range

   the scope of his thesis was vast

4. nautical slack left in an anchor cable

5. 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 )

6. informal short for telescope microscope oscilloscope

7. archaic purpose or aim

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verb

1. informal to look at or examine carefully

-scope ² British  

combining form

1. indicating an instrument for observing, viewing, or detecting

   microscope

   stethoscope

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Synonym Usage

See range.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• scopeless
  adjective
• -scopic
  combining form

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• scopes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of scope¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Italian scopo, from Greek skopós “aim, mark to shoot at”; akin to skopeîn “to look at” ( see -scope)

Origin of -scope²

< 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

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Explanation

Business people like to use the word scope because it specifies the extent of their responsibilities. Once you know the scope of a project, you can decide if you're qualified and how much time it will take to do it. If your boss gives you a new task and you don't want to do it, tell him or her it's not within the scope of your duties. A scope is also a device used to see something in the distance. You'll find one on shotguns, submarines, radars and the like. You can use scope as a verb meaning "to look out or around." When you and your friends go out, you probably scope out a few places to see where the action is.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scope scopes scoped scoping

Should the matter proceed to litigation, a central question will be whether Bianco was acting within the scope of his duties as sheriff when he seized the ballots.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026

The owner of Gucci, Bottega Veneta and other high-end labels booked a 1% decrease in revenue on a comparable scope and exchange rate basis for the third quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

He believes the issue stemmed from the "extremely broad" scope of responsibility they were given.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

Identifying those signs is beyond the scope of this column.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026

White read the evaluator’s psychological study of Hale, but there was some evil that seemed beyond the scope of science.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

The employees worked at faster paces, took on broader scopes of tasks and ended up working more hours.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026

Reporting begins in 2026 on scopes 1 and 2 and in 2027 on scope 3.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2025

Sewer scopes allow plumbers to get a clear visual all the way down in the pipes.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 22, 2024

He said those delays would put Orsted in "a situation where we would need to go out and recontract all or very large scopes of the project at expectedly higher prices."

From Reuters ● Nov. 3, 2023

"You could be a famed courtier. Only having to worry about dresses and gossip and landing in the scopes and papers."

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

Those goals, he argued, were "scoped and reasonable objectives that can be attained."

From Barron's ● Mar. 3, 2026

More than a decade ago, Honnold scoped out Taipei 101 for a National Geographic special, but the project never materialized.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

By then the third team, most likely, was laying low in the Coromandel Peninsula town of Thames, a spot scoped out by Christine Cabon months before.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025

McPeek also had the horse scoped, where a tube is inserted in the horse’s nostril and then pushed down to see if there are any respiratory issues, and that apparently came back good.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2024

After every sixteen-mile stint in Idaho, Grandpa Ed is there just as he’s promised, in the location her “team” has scoped out.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti

Federal prosecutors allege that the 35-year-old Alfozan had spent weeks scoping out an executive conference room inside an OpenAI office building where top-secret meetings about industry-leading AI models and products took place.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Ardern and her husband were seen scoping out properties for sale in Sydney's beachside northern suburbs of Freshwater and Curl Curl, property website realestate.com.au said.

From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026

Published under the title "Microplastics and Global Warming: A Hidden Climate Threat Uncovered in a New Perspective," the study provides a scoping review of existing research.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 17, 2026

At Dan’s house I spent an hour with his assistant scoping out a few locations — no wall of mirrors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025

And every job he gets it’s supposed to be this big position and you know it’s not that much, but he’s scoping and hoping so you go along with it.

From "Slam!" by Walter Dean Myers

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Related Words

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