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/pərspˈɛktɪv/ Listen

noun

Perspective n.

1.

A glass through which objects are viewed. (Obs.) "Not a perspective, but a mirror."

2.

That which is seen through an opening; a view; a vista. "The perspective of life."

3.

The effect of distance upon the appearance of objects, by means of which the eye recognizes them as being at a more or less measurable distance. Hence, aerial perspective, the assumed greater vagueness or uncertainty of outline in distant objects. "Aerial perspective is the expression of space by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of color, etc."

4.

The art and the science of so delineating objects that they shall seem to grow smaller as they recede from the eye; called also linear perspective.

5.

A drawing in linear perspective.

Isometrical perspective, an inaccurate term for a mechanical way of representing objects in the direction of the diagonal of a cube.

Perspective glass, a telescope which shows objects in the right position.

adjective

Perspective adj.

1.

Of or pertaining to the science of vision; optical. (Obs.)

2.

Pertaining to the art, or in accordance with the laws, of perspective.

Perspective plane, the plane or surface on which the objects are delineated, or the picture drawn; the plane of projection; distinguished from the ground plane, which is that on which the objects are represented as standing. When this plane is oblique to the principal face of the object, the perspective is called oblique perspective; when parallel to that face, parallel perspective.

Perspective shell (Zool.), any shell of the genus Solarium and allied genera. See Solarium.

See images of 'Perspective'

Etymology of 'Perspective'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Perspective" Quotes from Famous Books

... and north, the map of fertile Devon billowed and rolled in one enormous misty mosaic,—billowed and rolled all opalescent under the dancing atmosphere and July haze, rolled and swept to the sky-line, where, huddled by perspective into the appearance of density, hung long silver tangles of infinitely remote and dazzling ...

— Children of the Mist • Eden Phillpotts

... one side of her face to all beholders, a figure cut out of canvas, an image with no power to move nor change her position. I feel as if there were no air between that arm and the background, no space, no sense of distance in your canvas. The perspective is perfectly correct, the strength of the coloring is accurately diminished with the distance; but, in spite of these praiseworthy efforts, I could never bring myself to believe that the warm breath of life ...

— The Unknown Masterpiece - 1845 • Honore De Balzac

... my place," said Chantry, "and see the perspective you can get." Then he went and stood by the fire, while Landseer sat in his place. Seated then in Chantry's chair, Landseer called out in perfect imitation of his host: "Come, young man, you think yourself ornamental; now make yourself useful, and ring the bell." ...

— Pictures Every Child Should Know • Dolores Bacon

... tree-tops. Everything around it is calm and peaceful. The little dwellings seem to smile as if they had been built under softer skies; the waters sing their song, and patches of moss cover a stream over which hang graceful clusters of foliage. The horizon extends on one side into a tapering perspective of meadows, while on the other it rises abruptly and is enclosed by a wooded valley, the trees of which crowd together and ...

— Over Strand and Field • Gustave Flaubert

... of the upper reaches of San Francisco Bay. Everywhere the same scene of desolation,—vast stretches of tule land, once broken up by cultivation and dotted with dwellings, now clearly erased on that watery chart; long lines of symmetrical perspective, breaking the monotonous level, showing orchards buried in the flood; Indian mounds and natural eminences covered with cattle or hastily erected camps; half submerged houses, whose solitary chimneys, however, still gave signs of an undaunted ...

— A First Family of Tasajara • Bret Harte

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