Pronounced: POOR-shuh (alt: POOR-she-uh), noun
Notes: I recognized the word, but didn’t know the meaning
Yesterday’s word
The word panoptic means “being or presenting a comprehensive or panoramic view”
First usage
Our word came into English in the early 1800s
Background / Comments
Our word brings back memories of the British science fiction show Doctor Who – one of the central gathering places on his home planet is called “the Panopticon” (which is a noun form of our word). But getting back to our planet, originally, a panopticon had two meanings: it was a prison layout (designed by Jeremy Bentham) with the cells arranged around a central tower, so that the guards could see the inmates. The other meaning was a device containing pictures of attractions that people viewed through an opening. Our word was adapted from the noun form – it came from Greek: pan (all) and optic (seeing; sight).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 