<B>visual, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of sight; having something to do with sight or vision. <BR> <I>Ex. Being near-sighted is a visual defect.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>having the function of producing vision. <BR> <I>Ex. the visual rods in the eye.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>received through the sense of sight; performed or produced by means of vision. <BR> <I>Ex. visual impressions or sensations, a visual test.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>that can be seen; perceptible; visible. <BR> <I>Ex. visual colors.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>of vision and light in relation to each other; optical. <BR> <I>Ex. the visual focus of a lens. Telescopes and microscopes are visual instruments.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) of the nature of a mental vision; produced or occurring as a picture in the mind. <BR> <I>Ex. to form a visual image of the author's description.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a rough layout of an advertisement. <DD><B> b. </B>the part of an advertisement that contains pictures and designs. <BR> <I>Ex. A good ad is a fortunate melding of visual and words (Walter Carlson).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=visualist.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>visuals,</B> </I>a film or part of a film without a sound track. <BR> <I>Ex. The program consists of a live lecture with visuals plus film clips (Harper's).</I> adv. <B>visually.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="visualacuity">
<B>visual acuity,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> distinctness of vision; the ability of the eye to perceive and distinguish an image. </DL>
<A NAME="visualaid">
<B>visual aid,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any device or means for aiding the learning process through the sense of sight, such as a chart, diagram, motion picture, or filmstrip. </DL>
<A NAME="visualarts">
<B>visual arts,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the arts that appeal through the sense of sight, including painting, photography, sculpture, architecture, landscape design, furniture, ceramics, jewelry, and textile design. </DL>
<A NAME="visualbinary">
<B>visual binary,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a binary or double star that can be seen as two stars with a telescope and sometimes with the unaided eye. </DL>
<A NAME="visualdouble">
<B>visual double,</B> <B>=visual binary.</B></DL>
<A NAME="visualeducation">
<B>visual education,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the use of visual aids in teaching. </DL>
<A NAME="visualfield">
<B>visual field,</B> <B>=field of vision.</B></DL>
<A NAME="visualflight">
<B>visual flight,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Aeronautics.) a flight in which the pilot navigates on the basis of observed bodies of land or water; contact flight. </DL>
<A NAME="visualinstrument">
<B>visual instrument,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an electronic keyboard instrument for producing patterns of different colors on a screen, played by itself or as an accompaniment to music. </DL>
<B>visualist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who thinks, remembers, or imagines in terms of sight. </DL>
<A NAME="visualizable">
<B>visualizable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be visualized. <BR> <I>Ex. The electron microscope ... made many virus particles visualizable (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="visualization">
<B>visualization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or fact of visualizing. <DD><B> 2. </B>a thing visualized. </DL>
<A NAME="visualize">
<B>visualize, </B>verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to form a mental picture of. <BR> <I>Ex. to visualize a friend's face when he is away, to visualize the scene of a battle.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to make visible. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to form a mental picture of something invisible, absent, or abstract. </DL>
<A NAME="visualizer">
<B>visualizer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who visualizes or has the ability to form mental images of invisible things or abstractions. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Psychology.) a person whose mental images are mainly visual. </DL>
<A NAME="visualpollution">
<B>visual pollution,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the defacement of the environment or surroundings by litter, graffiti, billboards, run-down or ugly buildings, and unsightly building projects. <BR> <I>Ex. The chief weapon in the arsenal of those fighting visual pollution here is a law that restricts the type, size, number and placement of roadside advertising signs (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="visualpurple">
<B>visual purple,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Biochemistry.) a purplish-red protein present in the rods of the retina of the eye, that, in the presence of light, is bleached to form a yellow pigment (visual yellow); rhodopsin. Visual purple, in turn, decomposes to form colorless substances and vitamin A. Visual purple is considered an important factor in vision, especially night vision. </DL>
<A NAME="visuals">
<B>visuals, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>visual.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="visualyellow">
<B>visual yellow,</B> <B>=retinene.</B></DL>
<A NAME="visuospatial">
<B>visuospatial, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of the field of vision, especially as it involves the relationships of space and configuration of the objects seen. <BR> <I>Ex. Psychological testing has repeatedly shown that girls are in general better at verbal skills, whereas boys are better at visuospatial skills (such as jigsaw puzzles) (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="visviva">
<B>vis viva,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Latin.) a living or active force. <DD><B> 2. </B>the energy of motion or of a moving thing; kinetic energy. </DL>
<A NAME="vita">
<B>vita, </B>noun, pl. <B>vitae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Latin.) life. <DD><B> 2. </B>a biography. </DL>
<A NAME="vitaceous">
<B>vitaceous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> belonging to the grape family. </DL>
<A NAME="vitaglass">
<B>vitaglass, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a glass that allows the passage of a large part of the ultraviolet rays of the sunlight. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>Vitaglass,</B> a trademark for this glass. </DL>
<A NAME="vital">
<B>vital, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of life; having something to do with life; exhibited by living things. <BR> <I>Ex. vital energy. Growth and decay are vital processes.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>necessary to life. <BR> <I>Ex. Eating is a vital function. The heart is a vital organ.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) very necessary; very important; basic; essential. <BR> <I>Ex. a vital question. The education of young people is vital to the future of our country. Voting is a vital function of citizens in a democracy. Drainage of the swamp was considered vital to the welfare of the community.</I> (SYN) fundamental. <DD><B> 4. </B>causing death, failure, or ruin. <BR> <I>Ex. a vital wound, a vital blow to an industry.</I> (SYN) mortal. <DD><B> 5. </B>having life; living; animate. <DD><B> 6. </B>full of life and spirit; lively. <BR> <I>Ex. What a vital boy he is--never idle, never dull.</I> (SYN) vigorous. <DD><B> 7. </B>being that immaterial force that is present in living things and by which they are animated and maintained. <BR> <I>Ex. the vital spark.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>vitals,</B> <B>a. </B>the parts or organs necessary to life. The brain, heart, lungs, and stomach are vitals. <BR> <I>Ex. A slight wound; though it pierced his body, it ... missed the vitals (John Fletcher).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative.) the essential parts or features of anything; essentials. <BR> <I>Ex. If the vitals were preserved, I should not differ for the rest (Thomas Burton).</I> adv. <B>vitally.</B> noun <B>vitalness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vitalcapacity">
<B>vital capacity,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the amount of air that the lungs can hold when breathing in as deeply as possible and then exhaling. </DL>
<A NAME="vitalforce">
<B>vital force</B> or <B>principle,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the animating force in animals and plants; the principle upon which the phenomena of life are supposed to depend. </DL>
<B>vitalism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the doctrine that the behavior of a living organism is, at least in part, due to a vital principle that cannot possibly be explained by physics and chemistry. </DL>
<A NAME="vitalist">
<B>vitalist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an adherent of the doctrine of vitalism. </DL>
<A NAME="vitalistic">
<B>vitalistic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or like vitalism or vitalists. <BR> <I>Ex. Until recently, investigation of the central cerebral processes has been confined to the experimental psychologist who, all too frequently in the last resort, seeks the aid of vitalistic postulates (George M. Wyburn).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="vitality">
<B>vitality, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>vital force; power to live. <BR> <I>Ex. Her vitality was lessened by illness.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>something having vital force. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) the power to endure and act. <BR> <I>Ex. the vitality of Shakespeare's sonnets. America has great vitality.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) strength or vigor of mind or body; energy. <BR> <I>Ex. There is little vitality in his weak efforts to cope with his problems.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="vitalization">
<B>vitalization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or process of vitalizing. <DD><B> 2. </B>the condition of being vitalized. </DL>
<A NAME="vitalize">
<B>vitalize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to give life to. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) <DD><B> a. </B>to put vitality or vigor into; make more energetic, lively, or enterprising. <DD><B> b. </B>to present (a literary or artistic idea) in a lifelike manner. </DL>
<A NAME="vitalizer">
<B>vitalizer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person or thing that vitalizes. </DL>
<A NAME="vitallium">
<B>Vitallium, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Trademark.) an alloy consisting essentially of cobalt and chromium, used especially in bone surgery. </DL>
<A NAME="vitals">
<B>vitals, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>vital.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vitalstatistics">
<B>vital statistics,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>statistics that give facts about births, deaths, marriages, divorces, sicknesses, and other events affecting the population of a country, state, or other community. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) (<I>chiefly in humorous use</I>). a woman's bust, waist, and hip measurements. <BR> <I>Ex. His wife's vital statistics [in the metric system] will turn out to be 92-61-92 instead of 36-24-36 (New Scientist).</I> </DL>
