Skip to main content
PRISM

PRISM

2 8.8
A United States government program that collects people's online messages and data from big tech companies for spying
  • proper noun
  • /ˈprɪzəm/
: PRISM
  • The controversial surveillance program known as PRISM collects data from major tech companies to monitor internet communications.
  • GraphPad PRISM
  • PRISM version
  • using PRISM

So if I got my computer out and looked up the actual things that were released about PRISM, I could straighten that out for you.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Reports revealed that PRISM intercepts emails and chats from various online services for national security purposes.

  • One was essentially PRISM, the content of Internet communications, the words spoken, the images sent, the documents, the video and so on.

  • It is believed that it is the legal foundation of the PRISM program. So

  • In addition, governments have increased surveillance of the citizenry as exemplified by several secret programs (such as PRISM) authorized by the Bush administration and maintained by President Obama to monitor communications.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Many citizens were alarmed to discover that the government used PRISM to gather information without their consent.

Compounds

triangular prism
  • Specialized
1 5.2

A solid shape that has two equal triangle ends and three rectangular sides joining them

optical prism
  • Specialized
1 5.5

A clear triangular piece of glass that bends light into a rainbow of colors

erecting prism
  • Specialized
1 9.2

A glass shape with angled faces that turns an upside-down image right side up

right prism
  • Specialized
1 5.7

A solid with two equal parallel flat ends and rectangular sides that meet the ends at right angles

Nicol prism
  • Specialized
9.9

A device made from calcite that makes light waves vibrate in one direction, used in microscopes

prism spectroscope
  • Specialized
8.8

An instrument that uses a prism to split light into separate colors for study

quadrangular prism
  • Specialized
8.3

A solid shape with two equal four-sided bases and four flat side faces joining them

regular prism
  • Specialized
5.5

A solid with two equal regular flat shapes as ends and rectangular sides

Rochon prism
  • Specialized
9.9

A device that uses two crystals to make light vibrate in one direction

Wollaston prism
  • Specialized
9.9

Two clear crystal prisms joined together to make light that vibrates in one direction

Surface Forms

PRISM main

Morphology

PRISM = P + R + I + S + M

As an uppercase acronym/codename, the letters do not transparently help a learner infer the meaning of the surveillance program.

Etymology

PRISM borrows its image from the everyday word prism, a piece of glass that 'splits' light to show hidden colors, so a helpful way to remember the program is to think of it as 'separating' and looking at parts of internet communications that would otherwise be hidden.