stenopaeic

S1T1E1N1O1P3A1E1I1C3
/ˌstɛnəˈpiː.ɪk/

adjective

Pertaining to a narrow opening or slit in an opaque barrier that restricts the light which reaches the eye.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

adjectivestenopaeic (not comparable)

alternative stenopaic · alternative stenopeic

  1. not comparableengineeringPertaining to a narrow opening or slit in an opaque barrier that restricts the light which reaches the eye.

    These patients were selected retrospectively, and only those treated with complete bed-rest and stenopaeic spectacles alone were accepted.

    1976 April, Thorkild Bramsen, “Traumatic hyphaema treated with the antifibrinolytic drug tranexamic acid”, in Acta ophthalmologica, volume 54, number 2
    3 more examples

    Prof. Danders has lately devised "stenopic spectacles," based on the principle of excluding the rays of light from the opacity, and admitting their entrance through a small opening in a glass, or any other suitable material held close to the eye and darkened on its posterior wall, thus to admit behind it the greatest possible enlargement of the pupil.

    1855 September 28, Isidor Gluck, “Clinical Lectures on some of the Principal Diseases of the Eye”, in Austin Flint, S. B. Hunt, editors, Buffalo Medical Journal and Monthly Review of Medical and Surgical Science, volume 11, number 4, Buffalo, New York: Jewett, Thomas & Co., page 209

    Stenopaeic slit refraction is usually attempted when retinoscopy and more conventional subjective refractive techniques, i.e. JCC and FC, fail to provide satisfactory results.

    2009, Mark Rosenfield, Nicola Logan, Keith H. Edwards, Optometry: Science, Techniques and Clinical Management, →ISBN, page 219

    By contrast, the more aquatic sea lion eye is emmetropic in water and depends upon a flattened cornea and stenopaeic aperture for the formation of a good image in air (WALLs, 1942; SCHUSTERMAN, 1972).

    2013, F. Crescitelli, The Visual System in Vertebrates, →ISBN, page 680

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekστενός“narrow”
  2. Englishstenopaeic

From Ancient Greek στενός (stenós, “narrow”) (see steno-) + ὀπαῖος (opaîos, “perforated”), from ὀπή (opḗ, “opening”). First attested in 1855 (see quotations) in relation to the works of Franciscus Donders, who coined the original term as Dutch stenopaeische (1853-1854).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch stenopaeicus, stenopaeische
  • stenopaeicusPertaining to a narrow opening
  • stenopaeischePertaining to a narrow opening
Spanish estenopeico
  • estenopeicoPertaining to a narrow opening

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with stenopaeic

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Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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