Familial Lens: Peripheral Vision

–noun, plural -er·ies.

1. the external boundary of any surface or area.

2. the external surface of a body.

3. the edge or outskirts, as of a city or urban area.

4. the relatively minor, irrelevant, or superficial aspects of the subject in question: The preliminary research did not, of course, take me beyond the periphery of my problem.

5. Anatomy . the area in which nerves end.

Origin:
1350–1400; < Late Latin peripherīa < Greek periphéreia circumference, literally, a bearing round, equivalent to peri- peri- + phér ( ein ) to bear¹+ -eia -y³; replacing Middle English periferie < Medieval Latin periferīa, variant spelling of Late Latin peripherīa

—Synonyms 1. circumference, perimeter.

—Antonyms 1, 2. center.

–noun

1. the act or power of sensing with the eyes; sight.

2. the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be: prophetic vision; the vision of an entrepreneur.

3. an experience in which a personage, thing, or event appears vividly or credibly to the mind, although not actually present, often under the influence of a divine or other agency: a heavenly messenger appearing in a vision. Compare hallucination ( def. 1 ) .

4. something seen or otherwise perceived during such an experience: The vision revealed its message.

5. a vivid, imaginative conception or anticipation: visions of wealth and glory.

6. something seen; an object of sight.

7. a scene, person, etc., of extraordinary beauty: The sky was a vision of red and pink.

8. computer vision.

–verb (used with object)

9. to envision: She tried to vision herself in a past century.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English < Latin vīsiōn- (stem of vīsiō ) a seeing, view, equivalent to vīs ( us ), past participle of vidēre to see + -iōn- -ion

—Related forms

vi·sion·less, adjective