ophthalmic

O1P3H4T1H4A1L1M3I1C3
UK/ɒfˈθal.mɪk/UK/ɒpˈθal.mɪk/US/ɑfˈθæl.mɪk/US/ɑpˈθæl.mɪk/

adjective

Of or pertaining to the eyes.

“Eyedrops are an ophthalmic solution.”

Less commonScrabble 22

Meanings

adjectiveophthalmic (not comparable)

alternative ophthalmick

  1. not comparablemedicineOf or pertaining to the eyes.

    Eyedrops are an ophthalmic solution.

    2 more examples

    The ophthalmic surgeon attends Tuesdays and Saturdays, at half-past one.

    1853 September 17, “Metropolitan Hospitals & Medical Schools”, in The Lancet, volume 62, number 1568, →DOI, page 268

    In a clinic, a camera's lens probes the sensitive landscape of a human eye. McNally used a special ophthalmic camera to reveal the view a doctor would have during an eye exam.

    2008, Leah Bendavid-Val, National Geographic: The Photographs, page 15
  2. not comparableVisionary, looking to the future.

    To Dechen Wangmo, and all the fiercely dedicated ophthalmic staff of Bhutan, my gratitude for your hospitality and patience with a foreigner's curiosity about your customs.

    2013, David Oliver Relin, Second Suns: Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    Yet I do not call to mind that I was ever in my earlier youth the subject of remark in our social family circle, but some large-handed person took some such ophthalmic steps to patronise me.

    1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter X, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 161

    If Jack Yeats has made this ophthalmic adjustment, and if W.B. never really was so foolish as to look things between the eyes (until the Revolution grimaced at him), have the realistic novelists of our time been wise in their insistence on ruthless close-ups?

    2000, David Pierce, Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Reader, →ISBN, page 516

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveof or relating to or resembling the eye

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekὀφθᾰλμῐκός“of or for the eyes”
  2. Latinophthalmicus
  3. Englishophthalmic

Borrowed from Latin ophthalmicus, from Ancient Greek ὀφθᾰλμῐκός (ophthălmĭkós, “of or for the eyes”), from ὀφθᾰλμός (ophthălmós, “eye”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, “-ic”, adjectival suffix).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian очен
  • очен (očen)of or pertaining to the eyes
Catalan oftàlmic
  • oftàlmicof or pertaining to the eyes
Chinese Mandarin 眼的
  • 眼的 (yǎn de)of or pertaining to the eyes
French ophtalmique
  • ophtalmiqueof or pertaining to the eyes
Italian oftalmico
  • oftalmicoof or pertaining to the eyes
Portuguese oftálmico
  • oftálmicoof or pertaining to the eyes
Spanish oftálmico
  • oftálmicoof or pertaining to the eyes

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with ophthalmic

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

ophthalmic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ophthalmic

MLA

“ophthalmic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ophthalmic. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ophthalmic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ophthalmic.

Source: ophthalmic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.