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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

scope.

The breadth, depth or reach of a subject; the extent of applicability or relevance; a domain, purview or remit.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/skəʊp/Received-Pronunciation/skoʊp/Canada, General-American/skəʉp/Australia[skɐʉp]Australia
  1. The breadth, depth or reach of a subject; the extent of applicability or relevance; a domain, purview or remit.

    countable · uncountable
    Environmental impacts lie outside the scope of this report.
    Such transactions fall within the scope of VAT.
  2. A device used in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target.

    countable · uncountable
  3. Potential range of action; degree of freedom; opportunity.

    countable · uncountable
    My job doesn't give me much scope for personal development.
  4. The region of program source code in which a given identifier is meaningful, or a given object can be accessed.

    countable · uncountable
  5. The shortest sub-wff of which a given instance of a logical connective is a part.

    countable · uncountable
  6. The region of an utterance to which some modifying element applies.

    countable · uncountable
    the scope of an adverb
  7. Ellipsis of any word ending in -scope, such as endoscope, periscope, telescope, microscope, oscilloscope, and so on.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable
  8. Any medical procedure that ends in the suffix -scopy, such as endoscopy, colonoscopy, bronchoscopy, etc.

    colloquial · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Hellenic *sképt͏̌omai Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai) Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Hellenic *-ós ▲ Ancient Greek -ος (-os)influ. Ancient Greek -ός (-ós) Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós)bor. Late Latin scopusder. Italian scopoder. English scope From Italian scopo (“purpose”), from Latin scopus (“target”), from Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós), from σκέπτομαι (sképtomai), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-. Etymologically related to skeptic and spectrum.

verb/skəʊp/Received-Pronunciation/skoʊp/Canada, General-American/skəʉp/Australia[skɐʉp]Australia
  1. To perform a cursory investigation of; scope out.

    informal · transitive
  2. To perform any medical procedure that ends in the suffix -scopy, such as endoscopy, colonoscopy, bronchoscopy, etc.

    colloquial
    The surgeon will scope the football player's knee to repair damage to a ligament.
  3. To define the scope of something.

  4. To limit (an object or variable) to a certain region of program source code.

    If we locally scope the user's login name, it won't be accessible from outside this function.
  5. To examine under a microscope.

    informal
    The entomologist explained that he could not tell what species of springtail we were looking at without scoping it.
  6. To observe a bird using a spotting scope.

    informal
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Hellenic *sképt͏̌omai Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai) Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Hellenic *-ós ▲ Ancient Greek -ος (-os)influ. Ancient Greek -ός (-ós) Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós)bor. Late Latin scopusder. Italian scopoder. English scope From Italian scopo (“purpose”), from Latin scopus (“target”), from Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós), from σκέπτομαι (sképtomai), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-. Etymologically related to skeptic and spectrum.

noun/skəʊp/Received-Pronunciation/skoʊp/Canada, General-American/skəʉp/Australia[skɐʉp]Australia
  1. A bundle, as of twigs.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *skeh₂p- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *skoh₂péh₂ Proto-Italic *skōpā Latin scopader. English scope Derived from Latin scopa.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.