scope

Pluralscopes

Formsscopes, scoping, scoped

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The breadth, depth, or reach of a subject; the extent to which something applies or matters.

   The committee debated the scope of the new safety regulations.

   Her research falls well within the scope of the department's mission.

   Similarrange, extent, reach, compass

   Note

   The core sense, and the key to the word's history: Italian scopo, "purpose," from Latin scopus and Greek skopós, "target." Skeptic and spectrum grow from the same root. A target marks how far you aim, and the noun came to mean how far a subject reaches. It sits in fixed prepositional frames: things lie outside the scope of a report, or fall within the scope of a tax. Compass is its closest synonym.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Potential range of action; the freedom or opportunity to act.

   The role offers considerable scope for personal initiative.

   Tight budget limits left little scope for experimentation.

   Similarroom, latitude, leeway, freedom, opportunity

   Oppositerestriction, constraint, limitation

   Note

   Room to act, rather than the extent of a subject, and the grammar shows the difference. This meaning takes for: scope for personal development, scope for improvement. It is measured with much, little or more. The "extent" meaning pairs with within and outside instead. A job or an employer gives someone scope, and "leaves little scope" is the natural way to say there is not much room left.

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A sighting device mounted on a firearm or other weapon, through which the user looks to aim at a target.

   The sniper adjusted the scope to account for wind and distance.

   A good scope makes long-range shots far more accurate.

   Similarsight, telescope

   Note

   Here the old Greek "target" returns literally: a weapon's scope is how its user finds one. Telescopic sight is the longer name for the same device. A night scope amplifies faint light, so a sudden bright source can white out the shooter's whole view. Jack Coughlin and Donald A. Davis write exactly that moment in On Scope: A Sniper Novel (2014).

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To set out the breadth and limits of a task or project.

   The team will scope the renovation before signing any contracts.

   Good managers scope each phase carefully to avoid surprises later.

   Similardefine, outline, plan, delimit, assess

   Note

   Built directly on the "extent" noun: to scope a project is to decide its scope before the work starts. It belongs to professional and technical prose and often appears as a gerund. Scoping the investigation sits beside developing a work plan or interviewing witnesses as one of the first steps. Investigations, projects and phases are its typical objects.

5. 5
   verbcolloquialtransitive

   To investigate or check something quickly and without much detail.

   The detectives scoped the building for possible exits.

   He likes to scope the competition before launching a product.

   Similarcheck, survey, case, scan, inspect

   Note

   Two shapes, one meaning: the bare verb and the phrasal scope out both mean taking a quick look before committing. In fiction it is often what a group says before going in: "Let's scope the scene," "let's scope the action." Keep it apart from the planning verb, which means fixing limits, not glancing around.

6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Alternative form of 'scope.

   The technician adjusted the scope until the waveform appeared.

   Astronomers pointed the scope toward the distant nebula.

   Note

   The apostrophe in 'scope marks a clipping. The word keeps the tail of periscope, telescope, microscope or oscilloscope and lets context say which one is meant. Dropping the apostrophe gives this everyday spelling. Some of these clippings have settled into meanings of their own, among them the weapon sight and the birder's spotting scope.

7. 7
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The region of program source code in which a given name or object can be accessed.

   In this language, a variable declared inside a loop has scope limited to that block.

   Global scope makes the name accessible from anywhere in the program.

   Similarvisibility

   Note

   Programmers treat scope as a property every name carries. The Java Tutorial (2001) adds two refinements worth knowing. Scope also governs when memory for a variable is created and destroyed. It is also distinct from visibility, a related idea it is easily confused with. Talk of local or global scope describes how wide the region is, and the verb names the act of setting it.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To restrict a variable or object so it can be used only within a certain region of source code.

   Developers scope configuration values to a single module to prevent name clashes.

   The framework lets you scope a service to a single request.

   Similarrestrict, limit, confine, bind

   Note

   The verb that sets the programming noun: you scope a variable to a region. The result is described as locally scoped, globally scoped or scoped to a function. Adverbs like locally do much of the work by saying how narrow the region is. A locally scoped login name cannot be reached from outside the function that holds it.

9. 9
   nouncolloquialcountable or uncountable

   A medical examination that looks inside the body, such as an endoscopy, colonoscopy, or bronchoscopy.

   Her gastroenterologist scheduled a scope to investigate the bleeding.

   Recovery after the scope took only a few hours.

   Note

   Clinic shorthand built from the suffix itself: endoscopy, colonoscopy and bronchoscopy all end in -scopy, so each can be called a scope. As a countable noun it takes an article: she is booked for a scope. It is colloquial, so in formal writing the full name of the procedure is the safer choice.

10. 10
    verbcolloquialtransitive

    To perform an internal examination using a viewing instrument, such as an endoscopy or colonoscopy.

    The surgeon decided to scope the joint before operating.

    They scoped the patient's airway to locate the blockage.

    Similarexamine, explore, inspect, investigate

    Note

    The verb behind the clinic noun, with the body part as its object: surgeons scope a knee, a joint, an airway. It is not only for looking. A surgeon may scope a knee to repair a damaged ligament, so the word covers treatment as well as examination. Like the noun, it is colloquial, and formal reports name the specific -scopy.

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