different between specular vs aspecular

English

Etymology

From Latin specul?ris, from speculum; and in some senses from specul?r? (“to watch, observe”). Some later senses via French spéculaire.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?sp?kj?l?/

Adjective

specular (comparative more specular, superlative most specular)

1. Pertaining to mirrors; mirror-like, reflective. [from 17th c.]
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 14:

     a perfect likeness would rather suggest a specular, and hence speculatory, phenomenon [...].

2. (medicine) Of or relating to a speculum; conducted with the aid of a speculum.

3. Assisting sight, like a lens etc.
   • 1708, John Philips, Cyder

     Thy specular orb / Apply to well-dissected kernels; lo! / In each observe the slender threads / Of first-beginning trees.

4. (poetic) Offering an expansive view; picturesque.
   • 1833, William Wordsworth, Hope Smiled:

     Calm as the Universe, from specular towers / Of heaven contemplated by Spirits pure.

Derived terms

• despecularize
• specular iron
• specularity
• specularize
• specular stone

Anagrams

• capsuler, carpules, clear-ups, clears up, upscaler

English

Etymology

a- +? specular

Adjective

aspecular (not comparable)

1. (optics, in surface gloss measurements) Subtended at the origin by the specular axis and the axis of the receiver.

Related terms

• specular