What is "achromatic"

Achromatic \Ach`ro*mat"ic\, a. [Gr. ? colorless; 'a priv. + ?, ?, color: cf. F. achromatique.]

1. (Opt.) Free from color; transmitting light without decomposing it into its primary colors.

2. (Biol.) Uncolored; not absorbing color from a fluid; -- said of tissue.

   Achromatic lens (Opt.), a lens composed usually of two separate lenses, a convex and concave, of substances having different refractive and dispersive powers, as crown and flint glass, with the curvatures so adjusted that the chromatic aberration produced by the one is corrected by other, and light emerges from the compound lens undecomposed.

   Achromatic prism. See Prism.

   Achromatic telescope, or microscope, one in which the chromatic aberration is corrected, usually by means of a compound or achromatic object glass, and which gives images free from extraneous color.

1766, from Latinized form of Greek akhromatos "colorless," from a-, privative prefix (see a- (3)), + khromat-, comb. form of khroma "color" (see chroma) + -ic.

a. 1 (context optics English) Free from color; transmitting light without color-related distortion. 2 Containing components such as achromatic lenses and prisms, designed to prevent color-related distortion. 3 (context biology English) Uncolored; not absorbing color from a fluid; -- said of tissue 4 (context music English) Having only the diatonic notes of the scale; not modified by accidentals. 5 Being achromatic in subject

1. adj. being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness; having little or no hue owing to reflection of almost all incident light; "as white as fresh snow"; "a bride's white dress" [syn: white] [ant: black]

2. being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light; "black leather jackets"; "as black as coal"; "rich black soil" [syn: black] [ant: white]

3. having no hue [ant: chromatic]

Achromatic means literally “without color”. It can also refer to:

• Achromatic colors, “ greys” or “neutral colors”, also black
• Achromatic lens, a lens designed to minimize chromatic aberration
• Achromatic vision:
  • Monochromacy (total color blindness)
  • Achromatopsia
• Monochrome