Word.ws English Dictionary

overview effect

overview effect noun: the transcendental change of perception when one can view the Earth, or any other planetary object, within the universal context.

Noun

overview effect (plural overview effects)

  1. The transcendental change of perception when one can view the Earth, or any other planetary object, within the universal context.

Forms of overview effect

pluraloverview effects

Origin of overview effect

Coined by Frank White in the 1980s, author of the 1987 book The Overview Effect — Space Exploration and Human Evolution, to describe the experience of astronauts when they see Earth from space. The first public use of the term was in a poster at a Space Studies Institute meeting in 1985.

Questions about overview effect

What does overview effect mean?
Overview effect means the transcendental change of perception when one can view the Earth, or any other planetary object, within the universal context.
What part of speech is overview effect?
Overview effect is a noun.
What is the plural of overview effect?
The plural of overview effect is overview effects.

Words near overview effect in the dictionary

  1. overventuresome
  2. overventurous
  3. oververbose
  4. overvicious
  5. overview
  6. overview effect
  7. overview effects
  8. overviewable
  9. overviewed
  10. overviewing
  11. overviews

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overview effect (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.

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