microscopialadj.
/ˌmʌɪkrəˈskəʊpɪəl/, U.S. /ˌmaɪkrəˈskoʊpiəl/ rare.
= microscopic adj. 2a.The status of this word is uncertain; in both historical and modern texts it often appears near the more common microscopical, and most modern examples are undoubtedly misprints for this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > magnification or magnifying instruments > [adjective] > microscope
microscopical1663
microscopial1666
microscopic1735
1666 Duchess of Newcastle Descr. New World i. 31 It belonged to Physicians more then to Experimental Philosophers, to give reasons hereof; for they onely made Microscopial inspections, and related the figures of the natural parts of Creatures according to the presentation of their glasses.
1697 Philos. Trans. 1695–7 (Royal Soc.) 19 550 The next year came forth a nameless book..wherein anatomical and microscopial observations are condemned as useless.
1738 D. Kinneir New Ess. Nerves (new ed.) 102 No secretion or excretion is performed without a mixture..of several sorts of particles..as appears by microscopial observations.
1744 Philos. Trans. 1739–40 (Royal Soc.) 41 453 Being aware how much Imagination has frequently had to do with microscopial Observations, I distrusted my own Eyes.
1990 Bot. Gaz. 151 158 Morphometric analyses of changing cell dimensions at the light microscopial level are few.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1666