optical instrument
1
4.1
- noun
- /ˈɑptɪkəl ˈɪnstrʊmənt/
- Specialized
:
instrumento óptico
- The COSMOS Suspended Solids Monitoring System is a multi-beam optical instrument designed to monitor suspended solids and turbidity concentrations in municipal and industrial wastewater applications.
- optical instruments are being used
Examples
-
He is convinced about the reality of the structures we seem to see in part because we can interfere with them in quite physical ways and because we see them through many different optical instruments.
Academic text (1991) -
The alternating method is especially helpful to the beginning endoscopist, who is likely to become disoriented when using angled optical instruments and angled forceps.
Academic text (1994) -
So again, let me remind you that at the exit of an optical instrument, the ideal wave front should be spherical.
-
None of the functionally blind students could read printed text without the aid of optical instruments.
Academic text (1997) -
In automobiles, in electronics, and in optical instruments where the Japanese have had a relative cost advantage, competition among Japanese firms has been keenest.
Academic text (1994) -
However, the invention of the electron microscope would move science from the microscopic world of optical instruments to the world of atoms!
Academic text (2011) -
Typically, electron optical instruments use "round" (cylindrically symmetric) magnetic lenses.
Academic text (1997) -
Lacking optical instruments and written means of recording their observations, the original builders had sliced several trenches through the ground and plastered them with adobe to give them some measure of permanence.
Academic text (1992) -
A microscope is a powerful optical instrument that allows scientists to study tiny objects closely.
-
Through the use of an optical instrument like a telescope, astronomers can observe distant stars and galaxies.
Synonyms
1
4.7
A tool that uses light to make things easier to see like microscopes or cameras
How Powerful
102
3.6
440
3.3
- Specialized
1
4.1
16
2.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a device that uses lenses, mirrors, or other optical components' is directly derivable from combining 'optical' (relating to vision/light) with 'instrument' (a device or tool). This adjective + noun composition is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common pattern in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the MWE.
Etymology
The term optical instrument comes from the words optical (about 'seeing') and instrument (a tool). Imagine a tool with lenses or mirrors that makes distant things look close or small details clear, so that's why it means 'a device that helps you see'.