Word.ws English Dictionary

binocular

/bɪˈnɔkjʊlə/US/(ˌ)baɪˈnɑ.kjə.lɚ/

binocular adjective: using two eyes or viewpoints; especially, using two eyes or viewpoints to ascertain distance. Also the attributive form of binoculars.

Adjective

binocular (not comparable)

  1. Using two eyes or viewpoints; especially, using two eyes or viewpoints to ascertain distance.
    • a binocular microscope or telescope
    • Most animals are binocular.1713, W[illiam] Derham, Physico-Theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation. […], London: […] W[illiam] Innys, […], →OCLC

Noun

binocular (plural binoculars)

  1. A pair of binoculars.
    • He gazed around until on the lid of a spinet he spotted a promising collection of bottles, gin, whiskey, vermouth and sherry, mixed with violin bows, a flute, a toppling pile of books, six volumes of Grove's Dictionary mingled with paperback thrillers, a guitar without any strings, a pair of...1956, Delano Ames, chapter 14, in Crime out of Mind
  2. (dated) Any binocular glass, such as an opera glass, telescope, or microscope.

Also used as

binocular is also the attributive form of binoculars.

Examples of binocular in a sentence

  • Binocular rivalry is a visual phenomenon in which perception alternates between different images presented to each eye.
  • You broke the binoculars?? You're in deep trouble, mister!
  • He looked through the binoculars at the bird.

All 35 example sentences with binocular

Forms of binocular

pluralbinoculars

Origin of binocular

Borrowed from French binoculaire.

Words formed from binocular

Phrases with binocular

Questions about binocular

What does binocular mean?
Binocular means using two eyes or viewpoints; especially, using two eyes or viewpoints to ascertain distance.
What part of speech is binocular?
Binocular can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce binocular?
Binocular is pronounced /bɪˈnɔkjʊlə/ (UK).

Words near binocular in the dictionary

  1. binocellate cobras
  2. binocle
  3. binocles
  4. binocles-ciseaux
  5. binocs
  6. binocular
  7. binocular O
  8. binocular Os
  9. binocular vision
  10. binoculared
  11. binocularities

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: binocular (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-binocular.wav.

Cite this entry: “binocular.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/binocular. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.