Meaning & use
monocular
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Involving, suited to, or done with one eye rather than both eyes together.
Grammar: Common before vision, cues, microscope, and depth; also predicative: the view is monocular.
Patterns
- monocular vision
- monocular depth cues
- monocular microscope
After the injury, she relied more on monocular depth cues.
The monocular microscope is designed for use with one eye.
nouncountable
A small hand-held optical device used with one eye, like half of a pair of binoculars.
Grammar: Countable; plural is monoculars.
Patterns
- look through a monocular
- a compact monocular
He raised a compact monocular to read the buoy number.
A monocular is lighter than binoculars but gives no stereoscopic view.
Word forms
| plural | monoculars |
|---|
Common combinations
- monocular vision
- Monocular vision can make judging distances at roadside harder.
- monocular depth cue
- Relative size is a monocular depth cue available to one eye.
- through a monocular
- Through a monocular, the distant boat appeared small and flat.
Synonyms and how they differ
- single-eye
- A plainer descriptive phrase; monocular is the standard technical adjective.
Opposites
Commonly confused: monocular or binocular? monocular or monocle?
monocular vs binocular
Binocular uses both eyes and can support stereoscopic depth; a monocular uses one eye.
monocular vs monocle
A monocle is a single corrective lens worn in one eye, not a viewing device.
Practice
Depth perception from one eye alone is called ___ perception.
Choose one answer.
Mono- means one, so perception using one eye is monocular. Binocular needs both eyes, while auditory and tactile are different senses.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “monocular”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.