perspective

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A view or vista.
• noun A mental view or outlook.
• noun The appearance of objects in depth as perceived by normal binocular vision.
• noun An understanding of how aspects of a subject relate to each other and to the whole.
• noun Subjective evaluation of relative significance; a point of view.
• noun The ability to perceive things in their actual interrelations or comparative importance.
• noun The technique of representing three-dimensional objects and depth relationships on a two-dimensional surface.
• adjective Of, relating to, seen, or represented in perspective.

from The Century Dictionary.

• In geometry, said of two figures when each point of one can be so paired with a point of the other that the joins of all the pairs concur in one point.
• Optical; used in viewing or prospecting: used especially in the phrase perspective glass—that is, a telescope, and specifically a terrestrial as distinguished from an astronomical telescope.
• Of or pertaining to the art of representing solid objects upon a flat surface.
• Represented in perspective; throughly and duly proportioned in its parts; not anamorphous or distorted; true: as, a perspective plan. See II.
• noun A reflecting glass or combination of glasses producing some kind of optical delusion or anamorphous effect when viewed in one way, but presenting objects in their true forms when viewd in another.
• noun A magnifying-glass; a telescope; a spy-glass.
• noun The art of representing solid objects on a flat surface so that when they are viewed the eye is affected in the same manner as it would be by viewing objects themselves from a given point.
• noun A drawing or representation in perspective; specifically, a painting so placed at the end of an alley, a garden, or the like, as to presenst the appearance of continuing it, and thus produce the impression of greater length or extent. Stage scenic painting is of this nature.
• noun Prospect; View; Vista.
• noun Proper or just proportion; appropriate realtion of parts to one another and to the whole view, subject, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adjective obsolete Of or pertaining to the science of vision; optical.
• adjective Pertaining to the art, or in accordance with the laws, of perspective.
• adjective the plane or surface on which the objects are delineated, or the picture drawn; the plane of projection; -- distinguished from the ground plane, which is that on which the objects are represented as standing. When this plane is oblique to the principal face of the object, the perspective is called oblique perspective; when parallel to that face, parallel perspective.
• adjective (Zoöl.) any shell of the genus Solarium and allied genera. See Solarium.
• noun obsolete A glass through which objects are viewed.
• noun That which is seen through an opening; a view; a vista.
• noun The effect of distance upon the appearance of objects, by means of which the eye recognized them as being at a more or less measurable distance. Hence, aërial perspective, the assumed greater vagueness or uncertainty of outline in distant objects.
• noun The art and the science of so delineating objects that they shall seem to grow smaller as they recede from the eye; -- called also linear perspective.
• noun A drawing in linear perspective.
• noun an inaccurate term for a mechanical way of representing objects in the direction of the diagonal of a cube.
• noun a telescope which shows objects in the right position.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A view, vista or outlook.
• noun The appearance of depth in objects, especially as perceived using binocular vision.
• noun The technique of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface.
• noun figuratively The choice of a single angle or point of view from which to sense, categorize, measure or codify experience.
• noun The ability to consider things in such relative perspective
• noun A perspective optical glass, as used in a telescope.
• noun By analogy, sound recording technique to adjust and integrate sound sources seemingly naturally
• adjective obsolete providing visual aid
• adjective of, in or relating to perspective

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the appearance of things relative to one another as determined by their distance from the viewer
• noun a way of regarding situations or topics etc.