telescope

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

telescope

/ˈtɛl.ɪ.skəʊp/ UK
/ˈtɛl.əˌskoʊp/ US

Where it comes from

From tele- + -scope.

From Latin tēlescopium, from Ancient Greek τηλεσκόπος (tēleskópos, “far-seeing”), from τῆλε (têle, “afar”) + σκοπέω (skopéō, “to look at”).

Coined in 1611 by the Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani for one of Galileo Galilei's instruments presented at a banquet at the Accademia dei Lincei. Doublet of Telescopium.

noun telescopes

A monocular optical instrument that magnifies distant objects, especially in astronomy. It needs a scientific telescope, it needs to be reinterpreted and artificially brought near us, before we can so much as know that it was a Sun.
Any instrument used in astronomy for observing distant objects (such as a radio telescope).
A retractable tubular support for lights. In some studios the telescopes are fixed to the lighting grid […]
A kind of goldfish with protruding eyes, first bred in China. Chinese Telescopes are sold by some dealers for young Japanese Fringetails. For this reason it is well to select a reliable dealer when purchasing choice stock.

verb telescopes · telescoping · telescoped

ambitransitive To extend or contract in the manner of a telescope. Hugo rose to his full height, which was triple that of Grunt Buggely’s, even without his neck telescoped.
ambitransitive To slide or pass one within another, after the manner of the sections of a small telescope or spyglass.
intransitive To come into collision, as railway cars, in such a manner that one runs into another.
ambitransitive, of a series To collapse, via cancellation.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: scope, cassegrain, binoculars, periscope, gemini, glass, window, sniper, seat, instrument, spyglass, monocular, catadioptric, peeper, long glass, refractor

Translations

Every language

noun optical instrument that magnifies

Español	telescopio, catalejo
한국어	망원경 mang'won'gyeong
日本語	望遠鏡 bōenkyō, テレスコープ teresukōpu
中文	望遠鏡 /望远镜 wàngyuǎnjìng
हिन्दी	दूरदर्शी dūrdarśī, दूरबीन dūrbīn
Kiswahili	darubini
Português	telescópio
Français	lunette, télescope
Deutsch	Teleskop, Fernrohr
Italiano	telescopio, cannocchiale
Ελληνικά	τηλεσκόπιο tileskópio, κιάλι kiáli
Română	telescop, lunetă
Русский	телеско́п teleskóp
Tiếng Việt	kính thiên văn, kính viễn vọng
العربية	تِلِسْكُوب tiliskūb, مِقْرَاب miqrāb, مِنْظَار minẓār
עברית	טֶלֶסְקוֹפּ teleskóp

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"telescope." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/telescope. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

telescope. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/telescope

Chicago

"telescope." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/telescope.

BibTeX

@misc{telescope_2026,
  title = {telescope},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/telescope},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}