extent or range of view, outlook, application, operation, effectiveness, etc.: an investigation of wide scope.
2.
space for movement or activity; opportunity for operation: to give one's fancy full scope.
3.
extent in space; a tract or area.
4.
length: a scope of cable.
5.
aim or purpose.
6.
Linguistics,Logic. the range of words or elements of an expression over which a modifier or operator has control: In “old men and women,” “old” may either take “men and women” or just “men” in its scope.
7.
(used as a short form of microscope, oscilloscope, periscope, radarscope, riflescope, telescopic sight, etc.)
–verb (used with object)
8.
Slang. to look at, read, or investigate, as in order to evaluate or appreciate.
—Verb phrase
9.
scope out, Slang.
a.
to look at or over; examine; check out: a rock musician scoping out the audience before going on stage.
b.
to master; figure out: By the time we'd scoped out the problem, it was too late.
[Origin: 1525–35; < It scopo < Gk skopós aim, mark to shoot at; akin to skopeǐn to look at (see -scope)]
The range of one's perceptions, thoughts, or actions.
Breadth or opportunity to function. See Synonyms at room.
The area covered by a given activity or subject. See Synonyms at range.
The length or sweep of a mooring cable.
Informal A viewing instrument such as a periscope, microscope, or telescope.
tr.v.
scoped, scop·ing, scopesSlang
To examine or investigate. Often used with out:"Their World Wide Web site is, for now, the best place to scope out the future of the media business in cyberspace."(Marc Gunther).
[Italian scopo, aim, purpose, from Greek skopos, target, aim; see spek- in Indo-European roots.]
"extent," 1534, "room to act," from It. scopo "aim, purpose, object, thing aimed at, mark, target," from L. scopus, from Gk. skopos "aim, target, watcher," from PIE *spek- "to observe" (cf. Skt. spasati "sees;" Avestan spasyeiti "spies;" Gk. skopein "behold, look, consider," skeptesthai "to look at;" L. specere "to look at;" O.H.G. spehhon "to spy," Ger. spähen "to spy"). Sense of "distance the mind can reach, extent of view" first recorded c.1600.
"instrument for viewing," 1872, abstracted from telescope, microscope, etc., from Gk. skopein "to look." Earlier used as a shortening of horoscope (1603). The verb is recorded from 1807.
an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: "the range of a supersonic jet"; "a piano has a greater range than the human voice"; "the ambit of municipal legislation"; "within the compass of this article"; "within the scope of an investigation"; "outside the reach of the law"; "in the political orbit of a world power"
2.
the state of the environment in which a situation exists; "you can't do that in a university setting" [syn: setting]
3.
a magnifier of images of distant objects [syn: telescope]
4.
electronic equipment that provides visual images of varying electrical quantities [syn: oscilloscope]
scopeprogramming The scope of an identifier is the region of a program source within which it represents a certain thing. This usually extends from the place where it is declared to the end of the smallest enclosing block (begin/end or procedure/function body). An inner block may contain a redeclaration of the same identifier in which case the scope of the outer declaration does not include (is "shadowed" or "occluded" by) the scope of the inner. See also activation record, dynamic scope, lexical scope. (1994-11-01)
-scope\ [Gr. skopo`s a watcher, spy. See Scope.] A combining form usually signifying an instrument for viewing (with the eye) or observing (in any way); as in microscope, telescope, altoscope, anemoscope.
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Audio Help [skohp] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, scoped, scop·ing. 
