aspect

Any specific feature, part, or element of something.

Noun

  1. Any specific feature, part, or element of something.
    • Japan's aging population is an important aspect of its economy.

    Synonyms: component facet feature

  2. The way something appears when viewed from a certain direction or perspective.
    • Given the limitations of planar representation[…] The painter is constantly forced to choose one aspect over the other. - 1991, William Dunning, Changing Images of Pictorial Space: A History of Spatial Illusion in...

    Synonyms: hue

  3. The way something appears when considered from a certain point of view.
    • in certain aspects [ = in certain respects]
    • “Perspective” can be understood in different ways. It can mean a single aspect from which something is considered or evaluated; it can also mean a view from a relation between aspects of a subject. - 2016, Chenyang Li,...

    Synonyms: respect

  4. A phase or a partial, but significant view or description of something.
  5. One's appearance or expression.
    • Art thou but Captaine of a thouſand horſe, That by Characters grauen in thy browes, And by thy martiall face and ſtout aſpect, Deſeru’ſt to haue the leading of an hoſte? - c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher...
    • In Knots they ſtand, or in a Rank they Walk, / Serious in Aſpect, earneſt in their Talk: […] - 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […],...
    • By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in...

    Synonyms: appearance look blee

  6. Position or situation with regard to seeing; that position which enables one to look in a particular direction; position in relation to the points of the compass.
    • The house has a southern aspect, i.e. a position which faces the south.
  7. Prospect; outlook.
    • This town affords a good aspect toward the hill from whence we descended ; nor does it deceive us ; for it is handsomely built […] - 1643 November 14 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for November 1643]”,...
  8. A grammatical quality of a verb which determines the relationship of the speaker to the internal temporal flow of the event which the verb describes, or whether the speaker views the event from outside as a whole, or from within as it is unfolding.
  9. The relative position of heavenly bodies as they appear to an observer on earth; the angular relationship between points in a horoscope.
    • […] To the blanc moon / Her office they prescribed; to the other five / Their planetary motions, and aspects, / In sextile, square, and trine, and opposite, / Of noxious efficacy, and when to join / In synod unbenign;...
    • Kepler (the Lyncæus of the laſt Age) defines an Aſpect in this manner: Aſpectus eſt Angulus à Radiis Luminoſis binorum Planetarum in terra formatus, efficax ad ſtimulandum naturam ſublunarem. It is (ſaith he) an Angle...
    • I want to collect birthdates for a number of gay people, draw up astrological charts and compare them, looking for special aspects. I will send you your own chart if you send your time of birth, year, month, day, hour...
  10. The personified manifestation of a deity that represents one or more of its characteristics or functions.
    • The Mother Goddess in her many manifestations is termed Shakti, the female energy in creation, and worshipped as the supreme female aspect of Brahman. - 1995, V.P. Kanitkar, W. Owen Cole, Hinduism — An Introduction:
  11. The act of looking at something; gaze.
    • The tradition is no less ancient, that the basilisk killeth by aspect ; and that the wolf, if he see a man first, by aspect striketh a man hoarse. - 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page,...
    • […] his aspect was bent on the ground with an appearance of deep dejection, which might be almost construed into apathy, […] - 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter I, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […],...
  12. Appearance to the eye or the mind; look; view.
    • 1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth Vol 1, Chapter IX. They are both in my judgment the image or picture of a great Ruine, and have the true aspect of a World lying in its rubbish.
    • Three days later he opened the parliament. The aspect of affairs was, on the whole, cheering. - 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume...

Origin

From Middle English aspect, from Latin aspectus (“look, sight; appearance”), from aspiciō (“see; catch sight of; inspect”), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + speciō (“look, look at, behold; observe”).

Forms

aspects

Hyponyms

grammatical aspect aorist aspect iterative aspect perfective aspect imperfective aspect semelfactive aspect progressive aspect perfect aspect lexical aspect

Related

aspectuality Aktionsart aktionsart

Derived

aspectism aspective aspectless aspect particle aspect ratio aspect-related aspectual continuous aspect habitual aspect in full aspect in trian aspect modified aspect ratio multi-aspect multiaspect multiple-aspect original aspect ratio signal aspect subaspect

Verb

  1. To have a particular aspect or type of aspect.
  2. To channel a divine being.
  3. To look at.

Forms

aspects aspecting aspected