What does optometrist mean?
Word: Optometrist
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Optometrist means a trained person who tests your eyesight and prescribes glasses or contact lenses.
How do you spell optometrist?
Syllables: op - tom - e - trist
Tricky part: There is no er in the middle, so optometerist is wrong, even though the word is linked to measuring.
Watch out for: optometerist, optomitrist
Memory tip: The word is built from Greek parts for sight and measure, but there is no meter inside it, so never add an er.
Optometrist in a sentence
Example 1: The optometrist asked me to read the smallest line of letters on the chart.
Example 2: After the eye test, the optometrist said I needed reading glasses.
Example 3: Our school invited an optometrist to check every student's vision.
Fun Fact
Optometrists still use the letter chart designed in 1862 by the Dutch eye doctor Herman Snellen.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) cornia
b) optometrist
c) vission
d) spectecles
Show answer
b) optometrist. Cornea ends in ea, spectacles has an a after the t, and vision has one s.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
opt_metr_st
a) e, i
b) o, e
c) a, i
d) o, i
Show answer
d) o, i. It is op-tom-e-trist: o after the t, and the person ending ist.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
otermtstopi
a) optometry
b) protest
c) metropolis
d) optometrist
Show answer
d) optometrist. Three t's appear in the jumble, and optometrist is the only option that uses all of them.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. An optometrist asks you to read letters from a chart. What does the chart check?
a) whether you can tell red from green
b) how sharp your sight is from a distance
c) how well you know the alphabet
d) how quickly you can read a page
Show answer
b) how sharp your sight is from a distance
2. Which of these jobs belongs to an eye surgeon rather than an optometrist?
a) removing a cataract
b) fitting contact lenses
c) checking for eye strain
d) testing eyesight
Show answer
a) removing a cataract
