/ ˈmaɪkrəskəʊp; NAmE -skoʊp/ noun
an instrument used in scientific study for making very small things look larger so that you can examine them carefully :
a microscope slide
The bacteria were then examined under a / the microscope .
( figurative )
In the play, love and marriage are put under the microscope .
—see also electron microscope
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WORD ORIGIN
mid 17th cent.: from modern Latin microscopium (from micro- and -scope , from modern Latin -scopium , from Greek skopein look at).