prism
pronunciation
How to pronounce prism in British English:
UK [ˈprɪzəm]
How to pronounce prism in American English:
US [ˈprɪzəm]
-
- Noun:
- a polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces (the bases) and whose lateral faces are parallelograms
- optical device having a triangular shape and made of glass or quartz; used to deviate a beam or invert an image
Word Origin
- prism
- prism: [16] The etymological idea underlying the word prism is of its shape, that of a ‘sawn-off’ piece. It comes via medieval Latin prisma from Greek prísma, a derivative of the verb prízein ‘saw’. Its optical application emerged in English at the beginning of the 17th century.
- prism (n.)
- 1560s, a type of solid figure, from Late Latin prisma, from Greek prisma (Euclid), literally "something sawed," from prizein "to saw" (see prion). Meaning in optics is first attested 1610s.
Example
- 1. Fatherhood is the prism through which I see the world .
- 2. " Immigration is the prism " through which everything is seen in the borough , she says .
- 3. The nordic nations view today 's troubled economic times through the same prism .
- 4. We can interpret events in the middle east through this prism .
- 5. China 's exchange rate policy has largely been viewed through the prism of global imbalances .