optics
/ˈɒptɪks
/plural noun [usually treated as singular]
1The scientific study of sight and the behaviour of light, or the properties of transmission and deflection of other forms of radiation.In applied mathematics he studied optics, electricity, telegraphy, capillarity, elasticity, thermodynamics, potential theory, quantum theory, theory of relativity and cosmology....
- Regrettably, fluid dynamics is not well covered in standard physics curricula, but the ideas have natural connections to basic conservation laws, optics, and quantum mechanics.
- Modern scholarship has not seriously affected his stature in the fields of mathematics, dynamics, celestial mechanics, astronomy, optics, natural philosophy, or cosmology.
2chiefly North American (Typically in a political context) the way in which an event or course of action is perceived by the public: the issue itself is secondary to the optics of the Democrats opposing this administration in a high-profile way...
- They had no clue about the optics of the situation.
- With a federal election on the horizon, optics are everything.
- However the optics of such a venture are worrisome for McPhail.