mi·cro·scop·ic

(mī′krə-skŏp′ĭk) also mi·cro·scop·i·cal (-ĭ-kəl)

adj.

a. Too small to be seen by the unaided eye but large enough to be studied under a microscope.

b. Of, relating to, or concerned with a microscope.

2. Exceedingly small; minute: "The activities of men ... were reduced to a microscopic scale" (John Hersey).

3. Characterized by or done with extreme attention to detail: a microscopic investigation.

mi′cro·scop′i·cal·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

microscopic

(ˌmaɪkrəˈskɒpɪk) or less commonly

microscopical

adj

1. (General Physics) not large enough to be seen with the naked eye but visible under a microscope. Compare macroscopic

2. very small; minute

3. (General Physics) of, concerned with, or using a microscope

4. characterized by or done with great attention to detail

ˌmicroˈscopically adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mi•cro•scop•ic

(ˌmaɪ krəˈskɒp ɪk)

also mi`cro•scop′i•cal,

adj.

1. so small as to be invisible without the use of the microscope. Compare macroscopic (def. 1).

2. very small; tiny.

3. involving or requiring the use of a microscope.

4. very detailed; meticulous: a microscopic analysis.

[1670–80]

mi`cro•scop′i•cal•ly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	microscopic - of or relating to or used in microscopy; "microscopic analysis"; "microscopical examination" microscopical
	2.	microscopic - visible under a microscope; using a microscope microscopical seeable, visible - capable of being seen; or open to easy view; "a visible object"; "visible stars"; "mountains visible in the distance"; "a visible change of expression"; "visible files"
	3.	microscopic - extremely precise with great attention to details; "examined it with microscopic care" precise - sharply exact or accurate or delimited; "a precise mind"; "specified a precise amount"; "arrived at the precise moment"
	4.	microscopic - so small as to be invisible without a microscope; "differences were microscopic" microscopical little, small - limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent; "a little dining room"; "a little house"; "a small car"; "a little (or small) group"

microscopic

adjective tiny, minute, invisible, negligible, minuscule, imperceptible, infinitesimal, teeny-weeny, teensy-weensy microscopic fibres of protein
great, large, huge, vast, enormous, immense, gigantic, ginormous (informal)

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

microscopic

adjective

So minute as not to be discernible:

imperceptible, infinitesimal.

Translations

مِكْروسكوبي: مِجْهَري

mikroskopický

mikroskopisk

mikroskopisch klein

μικροσκοπικός

microscopique

mikroszkopikus

smásær, örsmár; smásjár-

microscopico

mikroskopisk

микроскопический

mikroskopický

mikroskopski

mikroskobik

显微镜的极微小的

microscopic

[ˌmaɪkrəˈskɒpɪk] ADJ → microscópico

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

microscopic

[ˌmaɪkrəˈskɒpɪk] adj → microscopique

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

microscopic

adj (in size) → mikroskopisch (klein); microscopic creature → mikroskopisch kleines Lebewesen; microscopic details → feinste Details; in microscopic detail → bis ins kleinste Detail

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

microscopic

[ˌmaɪkrəˈskɒpɪk] microscopical [ˌmaɪkrəˈskɒpɪk/əl] adj → microscopico/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

microscope

(ˈmaikrəskəup) noun

an instrument which makes very small objects able to be seen magnifying them greatly. Germs are very small, and can only be seen with the aid of a microscope.

ˌmicroˈscopic (-ˈsko-) adjective

seen only by the aid of a microscope. microscopic bacteria.

ˌmicroˈscopically adverb

mi·cro·scop·ic

, microscopical

a. microscópico-a, rel. al microscopio.

microscopic

adj microscópico

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Physicists distinguish between macroscopic and microscopic equations: the former determine the visible movements of bodies of ordinary size, the latter the minute occurrences in the smallest parts.

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Even Scoresby, the justly renowned Right whaleman, after giving us a stiff full length of the Greenland whale, and three or four delicate miniatures of narwhales and porpoises, treats us to a series of classical engravings of boat hooks, chopping knives, and grapnels; and with the microscopic diligence of a Leuwenhoeck submits to the inspection of a shivering world ninety-six fac-similes of magnified Arctic snow crystals.

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As the inimical plant could only be present in very microscopic dimensions to have escaped ordinary observation, to find it seemed rather a hopeless attempt in the stretch of rich grass before them.

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The only motion in the air was that of the dripping, microscopic particles of drizzling mist.

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As the girl passed down through the hall, she went before open doors framing more eyes strangely microscopic, and sending broad beams of inquisitive light into the darkness of her path.

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A microscopic examination for trichinae shall be made of all swine products exported to countries requiring such examination.

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She likewise set up housekeeping in the sideboard, and managed a microscopic cooking stove with a skill that brought tears of pride to Hannah's eyes, while Demi learned his letters with his grandfather, who invented a new mode of teaching the alphabet by forming letters with his arms and legs, thus uniting gymnastics for head and heels.

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Tree-ferns and mosses and a myriad other parasitic forms jostled with gay-coloured fungoid growths for room to live, and the very atmosphere itself seemed to afford clinging space to airy fairy creepers, light and delicate as gem-dust, tremulous with microscopic blooms.

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The totality of the minute, simple world of the humans, microscopic and negligible as it was in the siderial universe, was as far beyond his guessing as is the siderial universe beyond the starriest guesses and most abysmal imaginings of man.

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They changed the features with such microscopic care that no traces were left of their handiwork.

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All this he could see with microscopic clearness, for the distance was no more than twenty feet.

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It resembled a steamboat explosion on the Mis- sissippi; and during the next fifteen minutes we stood under a steady drizzle of microscopic fragments of knights and hardware and horse-flesh.

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