Adjacent Words

Aperture definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AP'ERTURE, n.
1. The act of opening; more generally, an opening; a gap, cleft or chasm; a passage perforated; a hole through any solid substance.
2. An opening of meaning; explanation. [Not used.]
3. In geometry, the space between two right lines, forming an angle.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a device that controls amount of light admitted
2: a natural opening in something
3: an man-made opening; usually small

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Latin apertura, from apertus, past participle of aperire to open Date: 15th century 1. an opening or open space ; hole 2. a. the opening in a photographic lens that admits the light b. the diameter of the stop in an optical system that determines the diameter of the bundle of rays traversing the instrument c. the diameter of the objective lens or mirror of a telescope

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 an opening; a gap. 2 a space through which light passes in an optical or photographic instrument, esp. a variable space in a camera. Etymology: L apertura (as APERITIF)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Aperture Ap"er*ture (?; 135), n. [L. apertura, fr. aperire. See Aperient.] 1. The act of opening. [Obs.] 2. An opening; an open space; a gap, cleft, or chasm; a passage perforated; a hole; as, an aperture in a wall. An aperture between the mountains. --Gilpin. The back aperture of the nostrils. --Owen. 3. (Opt.) The diameter of the exposed part of the object glass of a telescope or other optical instrument; as, a telescope of four-inch aperture. Note: The aperture of microscopes is often expressed in degrees, called also the angular aperture, which signifies the angular breadth of the pencil of light which the instrument transmits from the object or point viewed; as, a microscope of 100[deg] aperture.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(apertures) 1. An aperture is a narrow hole or gap. (FORMAL) Through the aperture he could see daylight. N-COUNT 2. In photography, the aperture of a camera is the size of the hole through which light passes to reach the film. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Opening, hole, perforation, gap, cleft, rift, chasm, orifice, passage, eye, eyelet, loop-hole.

Moby Thesaurus

access, aisle, alley, ambulatory, arcade, artery, avenue, bore, breach, break, broaching, cavity, channel, chasm, check, chink, clearing, cleft, cloister, colonnade, communication, conduit, connection, corridor, covered way, crack, crevice, cut, defile, disclosure, discontinuity, exit, fenestra, ferry, fissure, fistula, fontanel, foramen, ford, gallery, gap, gape, gash, gat, gulf, hiatus, hole, hollow, inlet, interchange, intersection, interstice, interval, junction, lacuna, lane, laying open, leak, opening, opening up, orifice, outlet, overpass, pass, passage, passageway, perforation, pinhole, pore, portico, prick, puncture, railroad tunnel, rupture, slash, slit, slot, space, split, stoma, throwing open, traject, trajet, tunnel, uncorking, underpass, unstopping, vent, yawn