prism

[priz-uhm]

noun

1. Optics.,  a transparent solid body, often having triangular bases, used for dispersing light into a spectrum or for reflecting rays of light.

2. Geometry.,  a solid having bases or ends that are parallel, congruent polygons and sides that are parallelograms.

3. Crystallography.,  a form having faces parallel to the vertical axis and intersecting the horizontal axes.

prism

/ ˈprɪzəm /

noun

1. a transparent polygonal solid, often having triangular ends and rectangular sides, for dispersing light into a spectrum or for reflecting and deviating light. They are used in spectroscopes, binoculars, periscopes, etc

2. a form of crystal with faces parallel to the vertical axis

3. maths a polyhedron having parallel, polygonal, and congruent bases and sides that are parallelograms

prism

1. A geometric solid whose bases are congruent polygons lying in parallel planes and whose sides are parallelograms.

2. A solid of this type, often made of glass with triangular ends, used to disperse light and break it up into a spectrum.

3. A crystal form having 3, 4, 6, 8, or 12 faces parallel to the vertical axis and intersecting the horizontal axis.

prism

1. A solid figure in geometry with bases or ends of the same size and shape and sides that have parallel edges. Also, an object that has this shape.

A prism of glass (or a similar transparent material) can be used to bend different wavelengths of light by different amounts through refraction. This bending separates a beam of white light into a spectrum of colored light.

Word History and Origins

Origin of prism¹

1560–70; < Late Latin prīsma < Greek prîsma literally, something sawed, akin to prī́zein to saw, prīstēs sawyer

Word History and Origins

Origin of prism¹

C16: from Medieval Latin prisma, from Greek: something shaped by sawing, from prizein to saw

Example Sentences

Slot will know better than anyone that he, as well as his expensively reassembled side, will be viewed through a completely different prism this season.

From BBC

He viewed the water politics of the region, quite properly, through the prism of winner-take-all economics.

From Los Angeles Times

Yet the reality of modern football is that everything in seen through, and judged by, the prism of results.

From BBC

To find an alternative route through that fog, we decided to approach it through the prism of laws that are supposed to regulate warfare and protect civilians.

From BBC

To be the miner's canary means that the experiences of Black people are a prism through which to see a whole wide range of inequalities, beyond race, in this society.

From Salon