scopes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of scope.

   Engineers debated whether the two project scopes overlapped.

   The lab ordered three new scopes for the genetics department.

   Note

   The plural works only where the singular can be counted: separate aiming devices on rifles, separate project remits, nested regions of program code, or several modifiers in a sentence that each reach over their own stretch. When scope means room to act, as in scope for improvement, it normally stays singular. Several scopes for improvement sounds wrong, while overlapping scopes of work sounds natural.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of scope.

   The analyst scopes each project before committing any resources.

   Every climber scopes the route before starting the ascent.

   Note

   Several informal verbs share this form, so the subject and object tell you which one is meant. A planner who scopes a job is sizing it up, short for scopes out. A doctor who scopes a patient is doing an endoscopy or a similar procedure. A birder scopes a heron through a spotting scope. Outside casual talk, the safe uses are defining a project's limits and, in code, limiting a variable to one region.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2