Scope

How to spell scope

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce scope

What does scope mean?

1. nounThe extent of the area or subject that something deals with or to which it is relevant.
2. verbTo assess or investigate something, often before committing to it.
3. nounAn informal name for a viewing instrument such as a telescope, microscope, or rifle sight.

Scope in a sentence

• noun

  The new policy falls well outside the scope of our current contract.

• verb

  The team will scope out the venue before booking the conference.

• noun

  She fitted a new scope to the rifle for the target range.

• noun

  The report covers a wide scope of safety issues across the factory.

• verb

  We need to scope the project carefully before agreeing a budget.

• noun

  The slide came into focus once he adjusted the scope on the bench.

Where does scope come from?

Language of origin: Greek

Scope traces back to the Greek noun skopos, which meant a target or a mark that an archer aims at, and also the watchman who looks out for that mark. It is built on the verb skopein, meaning to look at, to examine, or to watch carefully, the same root that gives us telescope, microscope, and periscope. English picked the word up in the 1500s through the Italian scopo, which by then carried the sense of an aim, a purpose, or a goal one shoots for. From that idea of a target the meaning gradually widened to the space or range within which one is able to look or act, giving the modern sense of extent or reach. The plain four-letter spelling rarely trips writers, but it is worth remembering that the silent purpose behind the word is literally to look, which is why so many viewing instruments end in -scope.

How the word is built

• scop- (from Greek skopos: target, mark to aim at)
• -e