microscopic

micro- +‎ -scopic

• (US) enPR: mī'krəskŏʹpĭk, IPA^(key): /ˌmaɪ.kɹə.ˈskɑpɪk/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -ɒpɪk

microscopic (comparative more microscopic, superlative most microscopic)

1. Of, or relating to microscopes or microscopy; microscopal

   We supply all microscopic stains and other materials.

2. So small that it can only be seen using a microscope.

   The water was full of microscopic organisms.

3. Very small; minute

   Compared to the galaxy, we are microscopic in scale.

   • 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: London Midland Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593:

     By wholesale omission of connections and by the use of a microscopic scale of photographic reproduction which makes some of the most important tables difficult to read, the size has been cut down from last winter's 580 to 520 pages only.

   • 2014 September, Gregg Jaeger, “What in the (quantum) world is macroscopic?”, in American Journal of Physics, volume 82, number 9, pages 896–905:

     ... the notion of the microscopic was often used in the foundations of quantum theory right from the start, to indicate the realm in which quantum theory is required in order to explain phenomena when classical theory cannot do so; quantum theory was generally considered in those years to apply only to situations involving atoms and smaller “microscopic” entities...

4. (figurative) Carried out with great attention to detail.

   The police carried out a microscopic search of the crime scene.

5. Able to see extremely minute objects.
   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:

     Why has not man a microscopic eye?

• See also Thesaurus:tiny

• macroscopic
• gross

• microscope
• macroscopic
• telescopic

• naked-eye

microscopic (not comparable)

1. microscopic

• microscopia
• microscopio

Borrowed from French microscopique. Equivalent to microscop +‎ -ic.

microscopic m or n (feminine singular microscopică, masculine plural microscopici, feminine and neuter plural microscopice)

1. microscopic