perspective

From Middle English perspective, perspectif, attested since 1381, from Old French or Middle French, from the first word of the Medieval Latin perspectiva ars (“science of optics”), the feminine of Latin perspectivus (“of sight, optical”), from perspectus, the past participle of perspicere (“to inspect, look through”), itself from per- (“through”) + specere (“to look at”); the noun sense was influenced or mediated by Italian prospettiva, from prospetto (“prospect”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɚˈspɛk.tɪv/

• Audio (US)

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perspective (countable and uncountable, plural perspectives)

1. A view, vista or outlook.
2. The appearance of depth in objects, especially as perceived using binocular vision.
3. The technique of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface.
4. (dated) An artwork that represents three-dimensional objects in this way.
5. (figuratively) The choice of a single angle or point of view from which to sense, categorize, measure or codify experience.
6. The ability to consider things in such relative perspective.
7. A perspective glass.
   • 1645, Joseph Hall, The Peace-Maker:

     […] our predecessors; who could never have believed, that there were such lunets about some of the planets, as our late perspectives have descried […]

8. A sound recording technique to adjust and integrate sound sources seemingly naturally.

• linear perspective
• metaperspective
• microperspective

• perspectival
• perspectivism
• point-projection perspective
• side-perspective
• twisted perspective

perspective (not comparable)

1. Of, in or relating to perspective.

   a perspective drawing

2. (obsolete) Providing visual aid; of or relating to the science of vision; optical.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Seeming Wise”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     perspective glasses

• omnispective

• Perspective (graphical) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• 3D_projection on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Learned borrowing from Latin perspectīvus, from perspiciō

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.spɛk.tiv/

• Audio

  (file)

perspective f (plural perspectives)

1. perspective
2. prospect

   Elle était très effrayée par la perspective de perdre son emploi.

   She was frightened at the prospect of losing her job.

• en perspective

• → Danish: perspektiv
• → Norwegian Bokmål: perspektiv
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: perspektiv
• → Swedish: perspektiv
• → Turkish: perspektif

perspective

1. feminine singular of perspectif

• “perspective”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

perspective

1. inflection of perspectivar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative