Bifocals

noun

noun ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Spectacles that have corrective lenses of two different powers; used by people who need both distance and reading glasses. plural, plural-only

    "He unfolded a pair of bifocals and thrust them as far up the bridge of his nose as possible."

  2. 2
    (plural) eyeglasses having two focal lengths, one for near vision and the other for far vision wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
blinkerscheaterscolored glassescontact lensdark glassesdivided spectacles

Example

More examples

"Lenses with two distinct optical powers are also called "bifocals"."

Etymology

From bi- + focal (see focus), coined in 1824 by John Isaac Hawkins, inventor of trifocals. When the concept of bifocals was originally conceived by Benjamin Franklin, he called them double spectacles.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.