camera obscura

noun

cam·​era ob·​scu·​ra ˈkam-rə-əb-ˈskyu̇r-ə 

ˈka-mə-rə-

: a darkened enclosure having an aperture usually provided with a lens through which light from external objects enters to form an image of the objects on the opposite surface

Examples of camera obscura in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Kepler’s drawings were made using a camera obscura, a device that utilized a small hole in the wall of the instrument to project the sun’s image on a sheet of paper. —Cnn, The Mercury News, 25 Dec. 2024

That’s when one of those 2-foot tall numbers come off the board, creating a bizarre camera obscura to a range of possibilities. —Brendan Quinn, The Athletic, 14 Apr. 2024

That means that Kepler's famed schematic drawing diagrammed in his book conflicts with both camera obscura images and the astronomer's original text. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 31 July 2024

The earliest datable sunspot drawings based on Kepler's solar observations with camera obscura in May 1607. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 31 July 2024

Nicolaus Copernicus observed this phenomenon through a camera obscura, which, along with other observations, helped explain that the sun, not the Earth, was at the center of our planetary system. —Geraldine Castro, WIRED, 6 Apr. 2024

Mattel courts toy-shopping parents with sustainable products To a child, a box can be a doll’s house or a rocket ship, a camera obscura or a magic carpet sailing down the concrete slides in Golden Gate Park. —Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2023

Williams built a frame over the hole where the camera obscura had been, providing a spot for Fortuna’s pedestal. —Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle, 6 Mar. 2023

At 18, Weber built a camera obscura, or pinhole camera, at home to test whether Vermeer might have used one. —Nick Glass, CNN, 9 Feb. 2023

Word History

Etymology

New Latin, literally, dark chamber

First Known Use

1716, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for camera obscura

• angostura
• anura
• asura
• bandura
• bravura
• caesura
• datura
• purpura
• sakura
• coloratura
• crura
• dura