Prism

Definition: Prism

Prism

Noun

1. A polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces (the bases) and whose lateral faces are parallelograms.

2. Optical device having a triangular shape and made of glass or quartz; used to deviate a beam or invert an image.

Date "prism" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1690. (references)

Specialty Definition: Prism

Domain	Definition
Computing	PRISM A distributed logic language. ["PRISM: A Parallel Inference System for Problem Solving", S. Kasif et al, Proc 1983 Logic Prog Workshop, pp. 123-152]. Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.
Physics	A transparent body that is bounded in part by two non-parallel plane faces and is used to deviate or disperse a beam of light. Source: European Union. (references)
Fine Arts	Prism housed on the top of the camera by which a normal image is obtained in the viewfinder. Source: European Union. (references)
Mining	A. The volume of a length of embankment or excavation b. The liquid mobile volume of a stream c. An open crystal form with faces and their intersecting edges parallel to the principal crystallographic axis. Prisms have three (trigonal), four (tetragonal), six (ditrigonal or hexagonal), eight (ditetragonal), or twelve (dihexagonal) faces. The nine-sided prisms of tourmaline are a combination of trigonal and hexagonal prisms. d. A long, narrow, wedge-shaped sedimentary body with width:thickness between 5:1 and 50:1; e.g., a bajada adjacent to an escarpment. It is typical of orogenic sediments formed during periods of intense crustal deformation; e.g., the arkoses found in fault troughs. CF:tabularSyn:wedge. (references)
Physics	A transparent optical element, usually of glass or plastic, bounded by at least two planes secting at a refracting edge. The angle formed at the refracting edge, and in a plane normal to it, constitutes the prism angle. Incident light rays on a prism are deviated into new directions as the result of refraction or total internal reflection or both. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Prism

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

See:

Prism (geometry)
Prism (optics)

This is a disambiguation page; that is, one that just points to other pages that might otherwise have the same name. If you followed a link here, you might want to go back and fix that link to point to the appropriate specific page.

Prism (geometry)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

In geometry, a prism is a polyhedron made of two parallel copies of some polygonal base joined by faces that are rectangles or parallelograms. In the case these joining faces are rectangular, the object is said to be a right prism. The rectangular prism, or cuboid, and square prism are among the types of right prism, with a rectangular and square base, respectively.

Right prisms with regular bases are one of the infinite series of vertex-uniform polyhedra, the other being the antiprisms. The cube is a particular type of right square prism which is also edge- and face-uniform and so counts among the Platonic solids.

The dual of a prism is a bipyramid. The volume of a prism is the product of the area of one of the bases and the distance between them.

Prism (optics)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

In optics, a prism is a device used to reflect light or to break it up (to disperse it) into its constituent spectral colors (colors of the rainbow), traditionally built in the shape of a right prism with triangular base.

As light moves from one medium (say air) to another denser medium (say the glass of the prism), it is slowed down and as a result either bent (refracted) or reflected. The angle that the beam of light makes with the interface as well as the refractive indices of the two media determine whether it is reflected or refracted, and by how much (see refraction, total internal reflection).

Prisms are used to reflect light, for instance in binoculars, since they are easier to manufacture than mirrors. Prisms can also be used to break up light into its constituent spectral colors because the refractive index depends on frequency (see dispersion); the white light entering the prism is a mixture of different frequencies, each of which gets bent slightly differently. Blue light is slowed down more than red light and will therefore be bent more than red light.

Until Isaac Newton, it was thought that prisms added colors to white light. Newton placed a second prism such that a separated color would pass through it and found the color unchanged. He concluded that prisms separate colors. He also used a lens and a second prism to recompose the rainbow into white light.

Prism (geometry)

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Prism."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Prism

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
Entry	Source	Expression	Field
PRISM	English	Power Reactor Innovative Small Module	Nuclear Energy & Physics
PR	English	Prism Rail	Transportation
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Synonym: Prism

Synonym: optical prism (n). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Prism

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Angularity	Platonic bodies; cube, rhomboid; tetrahedron, pentahedron, hexahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron, eicosahedron; prism, pyramid; parallelopiped; curb roof, gambrel roof, mansard roof.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Prism

English words defined with "prism": Achromatic prism ♦ Bipyramidal, Brachydiagonal ♦ Clinorhombic, color spectrum ♦ Dihexagonal, Dipleidoscope, Dispersive power ♦ erecting prism ♦ Macrodiagonal, Macroprism ♦ parallelepiped, parallelepipedon, parallelopiped, parallelopipedon, prismatic, Prismatic cleavage, Prismatic colors, Prismatic compass, Prismatic spectrum, Prismatical, Prismatically, Prismy ♦ quadrangular prism ♦ Refracting angle of a prism, Refringent ♦ Teinoscope, The Monoclinic system, The Triclinic system, triangular prism ♦ Universal instrument ♦ visible spectrum ♦ White light. (references)

Specialty definitions using "prism": A.C./A.ratio, Abbe's prism, accommodative convergence/accommodation ratio 2.A.C.A.ratio ♦ Brazil twin ♦ comparison prism, contracted orifice, Creté prism, Creté's prism ♦ Fersman's law ♦ gale alidade, Gonioscopy ♦ hospital librarian ♦ infrared spectrography, INSTITUTION LIBRARIAN ♦ lucida ♦ minimum deviation ♦ natural face, Nimini Pimini ♦ Online Computer Library Center, Inc., Ophthalmoscopes, orthoprism, Owen deviometer ♦ patient's librarian, polarizing prism, prismatic section, prismatic telescope, prison librarian ♦ retinoscope ♦ schlieren photography, skiascope, spectrum colors. (references)

Etymologies containing "prism": Biprism ♦ Macroprism. (references)

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Modern Usage: Prism

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Moon Prism Power! (Sailor Moon; writing credit: Todd Swift)
Lyrics	I chase the wind of a prism ship (THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING; performing artist: King Crimson)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Prism

Domain	Title
References	Prism Financial Corporation: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) Prism Holdings Limited: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) Prism Rail Plc: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	Europe Through the Prism of Japan, Jacques Proust: Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries (reference) Prism (reference) Prism of the Night: A Biography of Anne Rice (reference) Sentenced to Prism (reference) The Prism Weight Loss Program (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Asee Prism (reference) Prism (reference) Prism International (reference) Prism Magazine (reference) (more periodical examples)

High Tech	Meade Travel View 9x63 Astronomy Roof Prism Binoculars (reference) Cyber Home Prism Home DVD Player (reference) Handspring Visor Prism (reference) IConcepts Car Charger for Handspring Prism & Pro (reference) (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)

Consumer Goods	Brita 35800 2-Quart Prism Water Filtration Pitcher (reference) Henckels Prism 45-Piece Stainless Steel Flatware Set, Service for 8 (reference) (more baby examples; more wireless phone examples; more garden examples; more kitchen examples; more tool examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Prism

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Photo Album: Prism

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	An eye care professional uses a prism to check for strabismus, a childhood eye disorder that affects the eye muscles. Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health.		Diagrams of optical phenomena, including the rainbow, the double Icelandic spar, and prism refraction. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Prism

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Wearing prism glasses can reduce blurred or double vision, but eye surgery has only short-term benefits due to the progressive degeneration of eye muscles. (references)
Travel	Colombia	In spite of the negative perceptions reflected through the often distorted prism of international news reporting about Colombia's security problems, first-time business visitors are usually pleasantly surprised at the high level of development and sophistication of the Colombian private sector. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Prism

"Prism" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.67% of the time. "Prism" is used about 75 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	98.67%	74	38,813
Noun (proper)	1.33%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	75	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Usage in Company Names: Prism

Country	Name	Country	Name
South Africa	Prism Holdings Limited	United Kingdom	Prism Rail Plc
USA	Prism Financial Corporation
	(more examples...)

Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.

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Expression: Prism

Expressions using "prism": Abbe's prism ♦ Achromatic prism ♦ Creté prism ♦ Creté's prism ♦ diverting prism ♦ erecting prism ♦ Herschel double prism ♦ nicol prism ♦ Nicol's prism ♦ optical prism ♦ prism binoculars ♦ prism glass ♦ prism spectroscope ♦ prism telescope ♦ quadrangular prism ♦ refracting angle of a prism ♦ refracting prism ♦ right prism ♦ Rochon prism ♦ triangular prism ♦ Wollaston prism. Additional references.
Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "prism": laser-prism.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Prism

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
prism	593	chevy prism	21
prism glass	311	prism mortgage	20
90 degree large prism	165	prism soft	20
prism diet	107	chandelier prism	19
geo prism	101	prism yarn	18
crystal prism	60	prism glasses	16
visor prism	58	prism picture	16
casino prism	53	prism volume	16
handspring visor prism	44	chevrolet prism	15
rectangular prism	40	rainbow prism	14
prism and weight loss	38	prism international	14
firework prism	36	prism deploy	13
box cable prism	33	prism enterprise	12
prism weight loss program	33	deck prism	11
prism kite	29	area prism surface	10
triangular prism	28	music prism	10
graphpad prism	25	abi prism	10
light prism	25	optical prism	10
prism software	22	prism triangular volume	10
handspring prism	22	roof prism binoculars	10
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Prism

Language		Translations for "prism"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		prizëm. (various references)

Arabic		‏منشار الزجاجة, ‏موشور. (various references)

Bulgarian		призма. (various references)

Chinese		棱镜, 三稜鏡 . (various references)

Czech		prizma, hranol. (various references)

Danish		prisme, glasprisme (prismatic glass). (various references)

Dutch		prisma (ram gib, ram guide, ram guiding). (various references)

Esperanto		prismo. (various references)

Farsi		منشور (Charter), رنگهای شوشه , شوشه , بلور (Crystal). (various references)

Finnish		prismalasi (prismatic glass), lasiprisma (prismatic glass). (various references)

French		prisme (prismatic glass). (various references)

German		Prisma. (various references)

Greek		πρίσμα (billet, cast strand, prismatic glass, strand). (various references)

Hebrew		פריזמ�". (various references)

Hungarian		prizma (clamp, reflector), hasáb. (various references)

Indonesian		prisma. (various references)

Italian		prisma (cant). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		�'柱 , プラント輸出 (angrily, export of manufacturing plant, in a huff, in anger, plait, planner, planning, pleat, pleated skirt, pre-, pre-amplifier, preference, prefix, preprocessor, prerecording, preset, pretty, pretty-print, priest, prima ballerina, prima donna, primitive, primitive art, prince, Prince Edward Island, prince melon, princess, princess coat, principle, printer, pudding), 三稜鏡 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		プリズ� , さ�"りょうきょう, かくちゅう. (various references)

Korean		�"�리즘. (various references)

Manx		prismey. (various references)

Pig Latin		ismpray

Portuguese		prisma (prismatic glass). (various references)

Romanian		prizmã, ghidaj prismatic. (various references)

Russian		призма (blade, rally). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		prizma. (various references)

Spanish		prisma (prismatic glass). (various references)

Swedish		prisma (drop, pendant). (various references)

Turkish		prizma. (various references)

Ukrainian		призма. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Prism

Derivations
	Words beginning with "prism": prismatic, prismatically, prismatoid, prismatoids, prismoid, prismoidal, prismoids, prisms. (additional references)
	Words ending with "prism": microprism. (additional references)
	Words containing "prism": microprisms. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Prism" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Aprismo, crism, grism, parsim, Periasamy, Pericom, phism, pism, Pisum, prasm, presh, presn, pressn, priam, priem, priism, prisk, prisma, prisme, prisn, priso, priss, prist, Pritam, priz, prizm, prizy, Prosamo, Prosim, prsi, pryism, prysg, rism. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Prism"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "prism" (pronounced pri"zum)
4	-i" z u m	ism, schism.
3	-z u m	abolitionism, absenteeism, absolutism, activism, adventurism, agrarianism, alcoholism, altruism, amateurism, anachronism, aneurism, animism, antagonism, aphorism, astigmatism, atavism, atheism, authoritarianism, autism, baptism, barbarism, bilingualism, bolshevism, boosterism, bosom, botulism, cannibalism, capitalism, careerism, catechism, centralism, chasm, chauvinism, classicism, collectivism, colonialism, commercialism, communism, conservatism, consumerism, corporatism, counterterrorism, creationism, criticism, cronyism, cubism, cynicism, cytoplasm, dandyism, defeatism, deism, despotism, determinism, diamagnetism, diastrophism, dimorphism, dogmatism, Druidism, dualism, dwarfism, dynamism, egalitarianism, egoism, egotism, electromagnetism, elitism, embolism, emotionalism, empiricism, enthusiasm, entrepreneurialism, environmentalism, ergotism, eroticism, escapism, ethnocentrism, euphemism, evangelism, expansionism, expressionism, extremism, factionalism, fanaticism, fascism, fatalism, favoritism, federalism, feminism, ferromagnetism, fetishism, feudalism, formalism, fundamentalism, futurism, geotropism, gnosticism, gradualism, hedonism, helotism, heroism, hooliganism, humanism, hypnotism, iconoclasm, idealism, illusionism, imperialism, impressionism, incrementalism, individualism, intellectualism, internationalism, interventionism, Irredentism, isolationism, isomorphism, jingoism, journalism, leftism, legalism, lesbianism, liberalism, lyricism, magnetism, mannerism, masochism, materialism, mechanism, mercantilism, mesmerism, metabolism, methodism, microcosm, microorganism, militarism, minimalism, modernism, monasticism, monetarism, monism, monotheism, moralism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mutualism, mysticism, narcissism, nationalism, nativism, naturalism, negativism, neoplasm, nepotism, neutralism, nihilism, obstructionism, opportunism, optimism, organism, orgasm, ostracism, overoptimism, pacifism, paganism, parallelism, parkinsonism, parochialism, pastoralism, paternalism, patriotism, perfectionism, pessimism, phantasm, pharisaism, pietism, plagiarism, pluralism, polymorphism, polytheism, populism, positivism, pragmatism, professionalism, protectionism, provincialism, puritanism, racialism, racism, radicalism, realism, recidivism, relativism, republicanism, revisionism, rheumatism, romanticism, sadism, sarcasm, satanism, sectarianism, secularism, sensationalism, separatism, sexism, skepticism, socialism, spasm, statism, stoicism, supernaturalism, surrealism, symbolism, synergism, territorialism, terrorism, theism, tokenism, totalitarianism, tourism, truism, unionism, vandalism, vegetarianism, vigilantism, voluntarism, volunteerism, voyeurism.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Prism

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: prims.
	Words within the letters "i-m-p-r-s"
	-1 letter: imps, mirs, prim, rims, rips, simp.
	-2 letters: imp, ism, mir, mis, pis, psi, rim, rip, sim, sip, sir, sri.
	-3 letters: is, mi, pi, si.
	Words containing the letters "i-m-p-r-s"
	+1 letter: crimps, porism, primas, primes, primos, primps, primus, prisms, purism, scrimp, shrimp, simper, spirem.
	+2 letters: armpits, empires, emprise, epimers, impairs, imparks, imparts, imports, imposer, impresa, imprese, impress, imprest, improvs, limpers, mispart, permits, pismire, porisms, prelims, premies, premise, premiss, primers, primsie, promise, purisms, rimples, rompish, scrimps, scrimpy, semipro, shrimps, shrimpy, simpers, simpler, spermic, spireme, spirems, spumier, tropism, umpires.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.