holographic

Word family

• hologram
  nounB2
• holography
  nounC1
• holographically
  adverbC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All three words describe things that appear to have depth, but they differ in how that effect is produced. 'Three-dimensional' (3D) is the broadest — it applies to sculptures, films, computer models, and anything with height, width, and depth. 'Stereoscopic' is narrower: it describes images or films that create a 3D effect by presenting slightly different views to each eye, typically through special glasses. 'Holographic' is the most specific of the three: it refers exclusively to images made with laser light that appear to float in space and can be viewed from different angles without any eyewear. 'Virtual' is a looser near-synonym reserved for computer-generated environments. For example, a clay model is three-dimensional but not holographic; a 3D cinema film is stereoscopic but not holographic; only a laser-produced floating image is truly holographic.

Common collocations

Etymology

From 'holography,' a word coined in 1949 by Hungarian-British physicist Dennis Gabor from Greek 'holos' (whole) and 'graphein' (to write). Gabor developed the theory of holography while trying to improve electron microscopes, but practical holograms only became possible after the invention of the laser in 1960. The adjective 'holographic' entered wider use in the 1960s and 1970s as laser holography advanced. This modern sense is unrelated to an older legal meaning of 'holographic' (describing a document written entirely by hand), which derives separately from the same Greek roots via Late Latin 'holographus.'