retrospectoscope
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
16
Letters
5
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A hypothetical instrument that allows diagnostic and management decisions to be made with medical hindsight.
Humorous; Slang
Example Sentences
- "A distinguished private foundation, that shall be nameless, offered me a small grant if l would test out their crystal ball with its two new attachments; one of them called the retrospectoscope and the other called the prognosticator."
- "The view through the retrospectoscope is almost always clear, precise, and correct."
- "Once we are proficient in using both the retrospectoscope and the prospectoscope, we are ready to use the perspectoscope—the scope that all patients deserve."
- "1994, Virginia L. Miller, Molecular Genetics of Bacterial Pathogenesis: A Tribute to Stanley Falkow, Amer Society for Microbiology The retrospectoscope is a marvelous instrument, particularly if it is supplied with rose-colored lenses. I cannot pretend to reconstruct objectively the events that affected my career."
- "Using the famous "retrospectoscope" technique, in which events of the past can be brought into sharper focus, one can sometimes identify the fear-inducing stimulus quite accurately in time and space."
- "I have also had to learn that just as the lens of the retrospectoscope provides false clarity, the lens of unbridled optimism distorts reality."
Etymology
Word Breakdown
- Prefix: retrospect
- Suffix: -o-