Scope definitions

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SCOPE, n. [L. scopus; Gr. from to see or view; Heb. to see, to behold] The primary sense is to stretch or extend, to reach; properly, the whole extent, space or reach, hence the whole space viewed, and hence the limit or ultimate end.]
1. Space; room; amplitude of intellectual view; as a free scope for inquiry; full scope for the fancy or imagination; ample scope for genius.
2. The limit of intellectual view; the end or thing to which the mind directs its view; that which is purposed to be reached or accomplished; hence, ultimate design, aim or purpose; intention; drift. It expresses both the purpose and thing purposed.
Your scope is as mine own, so to enforce and qualify the laws, as to your soul seems good.
The scope of all their pleading against man's authority, is to overthrow such laws and constitutions of the church -
3. Liberty; freedom from restraint; room to move in.
4. Liberty beyond just limits; license.
Give him line and scope.
5. Act of riot; sally; excess. Obs.
6. Extended quantity; as a scope of land. Obs.
7. Length; extent; sweep; as scope of cable.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: "the range of a supersonic jet"; "a piano has a greater range than the human voice"; "the ambit of municipal legislation"; "within the compass of this article"; "within the scope of an investigation"; "outside the reach of the law"; "in the political orbit of a world power" [syn: scope, range, reach, orbit, compass, ambit]
2: the state of the environment in which a situation exists; "you can't do that in a university setting" [syn: setting, background, scope]
3: a magnifier of images of distant objects [syn: telescope, scope]
4: electronic equipment that provides visual images of varying electrical quantities [syn: oscilloscope, scope, cathode-ray oscilloscope, CRO]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Italian scopo purpose, goal, from Greek skopos; akin to Greek skeptesthai to watch, look at — more at spy Date: circa 1555 1. intention, object 2. space or opportunity for unhampered motion, activity, or thought 3. extent of treatment, activity, or influence 4. range of operation: as a. the range of a logical operator ; a string in predicate calculus that is governed by a quantifier b. a grammatical constituent that determines the interpretation of a predicate or quantifier Synonyms: see range II. noun Etymology: -scope Date: 1872 1. any of various instruments for viewing: as a. microscope b. telescope c. a telescope mounted on a firearm for use as a sight 2. horoscope III. transitive verb (scoped; scoping) Etymology: perhaps from ²scope Date: 1974 to look at especially for the purpose of evaluation — often used with out <scoped her out from across the room — Tim Allis>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. 1 a the extent to which it is possible to range; the opportunity for action etc. (this is beyond the scope of our research). b the sweep or reach of mental activity, observation, or outlook (an intellect limited in its scope). 2 Naut. the length of cable extended when a ship rides at anchor. 3 archaic a purpose, end, or intention. Etymology: It. scopo aim f. Gk skopos target f. skeptomai look at 2. n. colloq. a telescope, microscope, or other device ending in -scope. Etymology: abbr.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scope Scope, n. [It. scopo, L. scopos a mark, aim, Gr. skopo`s, a watcher, mark, aim; akin to ?, ? to view, and perh. to E. spy. Cf. Skeptic, Bishop.] 1. That at which one aims; the thing or end to which the mind directs its view; that which is purposed to be reached or accomplished; hence, ultimate design, aim, or purpose; intention; drift; object. ``Shooting wide, do miss the marked scope.'' --Spenser. Your scope is as mine own, So to enforce or qualify the laws As to your soul seems good. --Shak. The scope of all their pleading against man's authority, is to overthrow such laws and constitutions in the church. --Hooker. 2. Room or opportunity for free outlook or aim; space for action; amplitude of opportunity; free course or vent; liberty; range of view, intent, or action. Give him line and scope. --Shak. In the fate and fortunes of the human race, scope is given to the operation of laws which man must always fail to discern the reasons of. --I. Taylor. Excuse me if I have given too much scope to the reflections which have arisen in my mind. --Burke. An intellectual cultivation of no moderate depth or scope. --Hawthorne. 3. Extended area. [Obs.] ``The scopes of land granted to the first adventurers.'' --Sir J. Davies. 4. Length; extent; sweep; as, scope of cable.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If there is scope for a particular kind of behaviour or activity, people have the opportunity to behave in this way or do that activity. He believed in giving his staff scope for initiative... Banks had increased scope to develop new financial products. N-UNCOUNT: oft N for n, N to-inf 2. The scope of an activity, topic, or piece of work is the whole area which it deals with or includes. Mr Dobson promised to widen the organisation's scope of activity. N-SING: usu N of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Purpose, drift, tendency, aim, mark, intention, intent, design, object, view, end. 2. Room, space, vent, opportunity, margin, range, liberty, latitude, amplitude, free course, free play, full play. 3. Length, extent, sweep.

Moby Thesaurus

a leg up, actionability, affective meaning, ambit, amount, ample scope, amplitude, applicability, area, bearing, bigness, binoculars, blank check, body, breadth, bulk, caliber, capacity, carry, carte blanche, chance, chromatoscope, clear sight, clear stage, clearance, color vision, coloring, command, compass, comprehensiveness, cone vision, connotation, consequence, constitutional validity, constitutionalism, constitutionality, coverage, cut, day vision, daylight vision, degree, denotation, depth, diameter, diapason, dimension, dimensions, discernment, domination, drift, due process, effect, elbowroom, essence, expanse, expansion, extension, extent, eye, eye-mindedness, eyereach, eyeshot, eyesight, fair field, fair game, farsight, farsightedness, field, field glass, field of view, field of vision, force, free course, free hand, free play, free scope, freedom, full scope, full swing, fullness, gamut, gauge, girth, gist, glass, grade, grammatical meaning, greatness, height, horizon, idea, impact, implication, import, intension, interval, jurisdiction, justice, justiciability, kaleidoscope, keen sight, ken, largeness, latitude, lawfulness, leap, leeway, legal form, legal process, legalism, legality, legitimacy, legitimateness, length, level, lexical meaning, liberty, licitness, limit of vision, line of sight, literal meaning, long rope, magnitude, maneuvering space, margin, mark, mass, meaning, measure, measurement, naked eye, night vision, no holds barred, notch, nuance, occasion, open space, opening, opera glasses, opportunism, opportunity, orbit, oscilloscope, outlook, outlook over, overtone, pas, peg, perception, period, peripheral field, peripheral vision, periscope, perspective, perspicacity, perspicuity, pertinence, photopia, pitch, pith, place, plane, plateau, play, point, power of sight, practical consequence, proportion, proportions, prospect, purport, purview, quick sight, radius, range, range of meaning, ratio, reach, real meaning, reference, referent, register, relation, relevance, remove, rightfulness, rod vision, room, rope, round, rung, scale, scan, scope of vision, scotopia, sea room, seeing, semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, sense of sight, shade, shadow, sight, sightedness, sightliness, significance, signification, significatum, signifie, size, space, span, span of meaning, spectroscope, spectrum, sphere, spirit, spread, spy glass, stair, standard, step, stepping-stone, stereoscope, stint, stretch, structural meaning, substance, sum, sum and substance, survey, sweep, swing, symbolic meaning, telescope, tenor, terrestrial telescope, time, tolerance, totality of associations, transferred meaning, tread, twilight vision, unadorned meaning, undertone, unobstructed vision, validity, value, view, vision, vista, visual acuity, visual field, visual sense, volume, way, wide berth, wideness, width, zoom binoculars