specular

adjective

spec·​u·​lar ˈspe-kyə-lər 

: of, relating to, or having the qualities of a mirror

specularity

ˌspe-kyə-ˈler-ə-tē 

-ˈla-rə-

noun

specularly

ˈspe-kyə-lər-lē 

adverb

Examples of specular in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

With a long tradition of luxury hospitality, the Gstaad Palace provides 90 sumptuous rooms and suites, housed in the incredible castle towers that combine modern classic design and coziness with specular views over the Swiss peaks. —Katharina Kotrba, Forbes, 8 Dec. 2024

Its backgrounds are fairly frenetic looking, a result of specular highlights that show hard edges and a polygonal shape. —PCMAG, 27 Sep. 2024

Apple explains that tandem OLED also allows the display to change colors faster, show brighter specular highlights in photos and videos, and reveal more detail in shadows, all while delivering sub-millisecond responsiveness. —Eric Zeman, PCMAG, 15 May 2024

Brighter parts of the defocused background, called specular highlights, are mostly round wide-open and show just a slight cat's eye effect. —PCMAG, 30 Apr. 2024

By using all these data streams in combination, the researchers were able to pick out a few specific places on the moon’s surface that had produced the specular reflections. —Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 June 2020

This applies to all the specular technologies spawned in photography’s wake—right down to the MRIs and ultrasounds of our frantically medicalized era. —Will Self, Harper's Magazine, 23 Nov. 2021

But a range of other rocks appear in the archaeological record, from the yellow ochre goethite to the often-dramatic specular hematite, sometimes called specularite. —Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 15 Mar. 2018

This may be the case, and certainly in our specular culture, in which all public debate takes place within a hall of electronic mirrors, what’s seen inevitably synergizes with the requirement that justice appear to be done. —Will Self, Harper’s Magazine , 28 Sep. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Latin specularis of a mirror, from speculum

First Known Use

1640, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for specular

• secular
• bimolecular
• biomolecular
• intermolecular
• intramolecular
• macromolecular
• monomolecular
• supramolecular
• unimolecular
• molecular
• trabecular

Medical Definition

specular

adjective

spec·​u·​lar ˈspek-yə-lər 

: conducted with the aid of a speculum

a specular examination