Library / English Dictionary

OPACITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being opaque to a degree; the degree to which something reduces the passage of light

Synonyms:

opacity; opaqueness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("opacity" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Attribute:

opaque (not transmitting or reflecting light or radiant energy; impenetrable to sight)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "opacity"):

cloudiness; muddiness; murkiness (the quality of being cloudy)

blurriness; fogginess; fuzziness; indistinctness; softness (the quality of being indistinct and without sharp outlines)

Antonym:

clarity (the quality of clear water)

Derivation:

opaque (not transmitting or reflecting light or radiant energy; impenetrable to sight)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Incomprehensibility resulting from obscurity of meaning

Synonyms:

opacity; opaqueness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("opacity" is a kind of...):

incomprehensibility (the quality of being incomprehensible)

Derivation:

opaque (hard or impossible to understand)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The phenomenon of not permitting the passage of electromagnetic radiation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("opacity" is a kind of...):

physical phenomenon (a natural phenomenon involving the physical properties of matter and energy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "opacity"):

optical opacity (opacity to light)

radio-opacity; radiopacity (opacity to X-rays or other radiation)

Antonym:

transparency (permitting the free passage of electromagnetic radiation)

Derivation:

opaque (not transmitting or reflecting light or radiant energy; impenetrable to sight)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Partial or complete opacity of the crystalline lens of both eyes that decreases visual acuity and eventually results in blindness.

(Bilateral Cataracts, NCI Thesaurus)

Partial or complete opacity of the crystalline lens of one or both eyes that decreases visual acuity and eventually results in blindness.

(Cataract, NCI Thesaurus)

Abnormalities are variable from individual to individual and may include mental retardation, retarded growth, flat hypoplastic face with short nose, prominent epicanthic skin folds, small low-set ears with prominent antihelix, fissured and thickened tongue, laxness of joint ligaments, pelvic dysplasia, broad hands and feet, stubby fingers, transverse palmar crease, lenticular opacities and heart disease.

(Down Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)