Meanings
nouncatoptrics (uncountable)
- uncountableThe branch of optics dealing with reflection.
'tis ordinary to see strange uncouth sights by catoptrics; who knows not that if in a dark room the light be admitted at one only little hole, and a paper or glass put upon it, the sun shining will represent on the opposite wall all such objects as are illuminated by his rays?
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 3, member 3
Synonyms & antonyms
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APA
catoptrics. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catoptrics
MLA
“catoptrics.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catoptrics. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “catoptrics,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catoptrics.
Source: catoptrics on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.