| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| aspect |
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| SYLLABICATION: | as·pect |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   s p kt |
| NOUN: | 1. A particular look or facial expression; mien: “He was serious of aspect but wholly undistinguished” (Louis Auchincloss). 2. Appearance to the eye, especially from a specific vantage point. 3. A way in which something can be viewed by the mind: looked at all aspects of the situation. See synonyms at phase. 4. A position facing or commanding a given direction; exposure. 5. A side or surface facing in a particular direction: the ventral aspect of the body. 6a. The configuration of the stars or planets in relation to one another. b. This configuration, thought by astrologers to influence human affairs. 7. Grammar A category of the verb designating primarily the relation of the action to the passage of time, especially in reference to completion, duration, or repetition. 8. Archaic An act of looking or gazing. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Latin aspectus, a view, from past participle of aspicere, to look at : ad-, ad- + specere, to look; see spek- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | as·pectu·al (-spkch - l) —ADJECTIVE
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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