- an instrument used in scientific study for making very small things look larger so that you can examine them carefully
- a microscope slide
- under a/the microscope The bacteria were then examined under the microscope.
- through a/the microscope a section of a potato as seen through a microscope
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- binocular
- electron
- high-powered
- …
- slide
- through a/the microscope
- under a/the microscope
Word Originmid 17th cent.: from modern Latin microscopium (from micro- and -scope, from modern Latin -scopium, from Greek skopein ‘look at’).
Idioms
See microscope in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee microscope in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishunder the microscope
- if you put something under the microscope you examine or analyse it in great detail
- In the play, love and marriage are put under the microscope.
Check pronunciation:
microscope