magnifying glass

noun

: a specially shaped piece of glass that is attached to a handle and is used to make an object look larger than it is
The jeweler examined the diamond with a magnifying glass.

Examples of magnifying glass in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Themes surrounding our relationships, finances and values are under a magnifying glass at this time — because suddenly, the little things matter a whole lot more. Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 19 Sep. 2025 Looking at Via Lactea (the Milky Way's Latin name) with a telescope — except to view certain highlights — is akin to closely scrutinizing a painting with a magnifying glass, which only reveals the coarse canvas, and not the actual art itself. Joe Rao, Space.com, 17 Sep. 2025 Equip your little one with a magnifying glass and challenge them to identify different things on your trick-or-treating trip, such as pumpkins with Frankenstein’s monster carved into them or 12-foot-tall skeletons. Ella Cerón, Parents, 16 Sep. 2025 Icons with overhanging bits (the tabs in Contacts, the bookmark in Dictionary) or with external objects superimposed on them (the little magnifying glass for Preview, the disk with a stethoscope for Disk Utility, the caliper thing for System Information) have been changed more extensively. ArsTechnica, 15 Sep. 2025 And Camila Falquez, whose subjects have included Zendaya and Kamala Harris, shot the Oscar-winning performer Ariana DeBose as the discerning woman with a magnifying glass drawn by Lorenzo Mattotti in 1999. The New Yorker, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025 The relationship isn’t a reprieve from the systemic forces bearing down on them individually, but rather a magnifying glass for them. Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2025 Grab a magnifying glass and take a look at what appears to be a patch of one type of moss will reveal a multitude of different shapes and forms. Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 10 Sep. 2025 An Nvidia chip is seen through a magnifying glass in Beijing, China, on August 1, 2025. Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 28 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Magnifying glass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/magnifying%20glass. Accessed 22 Sep. 2025.

Kids Definition

magnifying glass

noun
mag·​ni·​fy·​ing glass
: a lens that magnifies an object seen through it

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