optics
Americannoun
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(used with a singular verb) the branch of physical science that deals with the properties and phenomena of both visible and invisible light and with vision.
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(used with a plural verb) the way a situation, action, event, etc., is perceived by the public or by a particular group of people.
The optics on this issue are pretty good for the Democrats.
Administrators worry about the bad optics of hiring new staff during a budget crisis.
noun
Etymology
Origin of optics
First recorded in 1570–80; from Medieval Latin optica, from Greek optiká “theory of the laws of light,” noun use of neuter plural of adjective optikós; optic, -ics
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Beneath the stormy optics of that immigration crackdown, however, lies a less-noticed reversal: America’s own citizens are leaving in record numbers.
But the Houthis had developed a network to track American warplanes with observers, optics and infrared sensors whose intricacy U.S. officials didn’t entirely understand.
Beneath the stormy optics of that immigration crackdown, however, lies a less-noticed reversal: America’s own citizens are leaving in record numbers, replanting themselves and their families in lands they find more affordable and safe.
He wonders whether it might be best for optics if the disgraced financier — the biggest financial backer to Brockman’s nonprofit Edge Foundation — didn’t attend after all.
From Salon
The optics are bad because the ethics are worse.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
