Meanings
plural stereopticons
- A magic lantern, especially one with two projectors arranged so as to produce dissolving views or combinations of images.
Certain unscrupulous individuals grow rich through the manufacture and distribution of suggestive postcards, obscene steriopticon views, and inexcusable books and typewritten pamphlets.
1930, Jefferis & Nichols, Safe Counsel or Practical Eugenics, page 2001 more example
The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ster-
- Ancient Greekστερεός (stereós)
- Ancient Greekστερεο- (stereo-)
- Englishstereo-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃ekʷ-
- Ancient Greekὄψ (óps)
- Ancient Greekὄψις (ópsis)
- Ancient Greekὀπτικός (optikós)
- Englishstereopticon
From stereo- (“three-dimensional”) + Ancient Greek ὀπτικός (optikós, “visual”).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
stereopticon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stereopticon
“stereopticon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stereopticon. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stereopticon,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stereopticon.
Source: stereopticon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.