telescope
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A magnifier of images of distant objects.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tehluhskohpSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɛləskoʊp
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A magnifier of images of distant objects
A monocular optical instrument that magnifies distant objects, especially in astronomy.
Any instrument used in astronomy for observing distant objects (such as a radio telescope).
A kind of goldfish with protruding eyes, first bred in China.
verb
intransitive
To come into collision, as railway cars, in such a manner that one runs into another.
ambitransitive
To extend or contract in the manner of a telescope.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A magnifier of images of distant objects
Used this way, telescope is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use telescope
- “The novel was telescoped into a short play.”verb
- “In the accident, the cars telescoped.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Gunsight consisting of a telescope on a firearm for use as a sight.
A reflecting telescope that has a paraboloidal primary mirror and a hyperboloidal secondary mirror.
A reflecting telescope so constructed that the light is led to a plate holder or spectrograph.
A type of refracting telescope that is no longer used in astronomy.
A reflecting telescope that has a paraboloidal primary mirror and a hyperboloidal secondary mirror.
A reflecting telescope with the mirror slightly tilted to throw the image to the side where it can be viewed.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Gunsight consisting of a telescope on a firearm for use as a sight.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.