cataract

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: cat=a=ract

CIDE DICTIONARY

cataract, n. [L. cataracta, catarracles, a waterfall, Gr. , , fr. to break down; in the passive, to fall or rush down (of tumors) to burst; kata` down + to break.].

•  A great fall of water over a precipice; a large waterfall.  [1913 Webster]
•  An opacity of the crystalline lens, or of its capsule, which prevents the passage of the rays of light and impairs or destroys the sight.  [1913 Webster]
•  A kind of hydraulic brake for regulating the action of pumping engines and other machines; -- sometimes called dashpot.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

cataract, n.
1 a a large waterfall or cascade. b a downpour; a rush of water.
2 Med. a condition in which the eye-lens becomes progressively opaque resulting in blurred vision.

Etymology

L cataracta f. Gk katarrhaktes down-rushing; in med. sense prob. f. obs. sense 'portcullis'

THESAURUS

cataract

Niagara, ablepsia, amaurosis, benightedness, blepharitis, blind side, blind spot, blindfolding, blinding, blindness, blurring the eyes, cascade, cataclysm, cecity, choroiditis, chute, collapse, come down, comedown, conjunctivitis, crash, cross-eye, darkness, debacle, declension, declination, defective vision, defluxion, deluge, depriving of sight, descend, descending, descension, descent, detached retina, dim-sightedness, dip down, down, downbend, downcome, downcurve, downfall, downflow, downgrade, downpour, downrush, downtrend, downturn, downward trend, drop, drop down, drop off, drop serene, dropping, economic blindness, engulf, esotropia, ever-during dark, excecation, eye defect, eyelessness, fall, fall down, fall off, falling, falls, flood, flooding, force, fresh, freshet, glaucoma, go down, go downhill, gravitate, gravitation, gutta serena, hoodwinking, inclination, inundate, inundation, iritis, keratitis, lack of vision, linn, lose altitude, making blind, nappe, niphablepsia, optic neuritis, overbrim, overflow, overrun, overwhelm, parachute, partial blindness, pink eye, pitch, plummet, plummeting, plunge, pounce, pour, pour down, pour out, pour over, precipitate, psychic blindness, rain, rapids, reduced sight, retinoblastoma, river, run over, sault, sightless eyes, sightlessness, slop, slosh, snow blindness, soul-blindness, spate, spill, spill out, spill over, spiritual blindness, spout, stone-blindness, stoop, sty, submerge, swamp, sweep, swoop, torrent, total blindness, trachoma, trend downward, unenlightenment, unseeingness, uveitis, walleye, waterfall, waterflood, watershoot, whelm

ROGET THESAURUS

cataract

River

N river, running water, jet, spirt, spurt, squirt, spout, spray, splash, rush, gush, jet d'eau, sluice, water spout, water fall, cascade, force, foss, lin, linn, ghyll, Niagara, cataract, rapids, white water, catadupe, cataclysm, debacle, inundation, deluge, chute, washout, rain, rainfall, serein, shower, scud, downpour, driving rain, drenching rain, cloudburst, hyetology, hyetography, predominance of Aquarius, reign of St. Swithin, mizzle, drizzle, stillicidum, plash, dropping, falling weather, northeaster, hurricane, typhoon, stream, course, flux, flow, profluence, effluence, defluxion, flowing, current, tide, race, coulee, spring, artesian well, fount, fountain, rill, rivulet, gill, gullet, rillet, streamlet, brooklet, branch, runnel, sike, burn, beck, creek, brook, bayou, stream, river, reach, tributary, geyser, spout, waterspout, body of water, torrent, rapids, flush, flood, swash, spring tide, high tide, full tide, bore, tidal bore, eagre, hygre, fresh, freshet, indraught, reflux, undercurrent, eddy, vortex, gurge, whirlpool, Maelstrom, regurgitation, overflow, confluence, corrivation, wave, billow, surge, swell, ripple, anerythmon gelasma, beach comber, riffle, rollers, ground swell, surf, breakers, white horses, whitecaps, rough sea, heavy sea, high seas, cross sea, long sea, short sea, chopping sea, hydrodynamics, hydraulics, hydraulicostatics, rain gauge, flowmeter, pegology, irrigation, pump, watering pot, watering cart, hydrant, syringe, garden hose, lawn spray, bhisti, mussuk, fluent, diffluent, profluent, affluent, tidal, flowing, meandering, meandry, meandrous, fluvial, fluviatile, streamy, showery, rainy, pluvial, stillicidous, stillatitious, for men may come and men may go but I go on foreve, that old man river, he just keeps rolling along.

Blindness

N blindness, cecity, excecation, amaurosis, cataract, ablepsy, ablepsia, prestriction, dim-sightedness, Braille, Braille-type, guttaserena (drop serene), noctograph, teichopsia, blind, eyeless, sightless, visionless, dark, stone-blind, sand- blind, stark-blind, undiscerning, dimsighted, blind as a bat, blind as a buzzard, blind as a beetle, blind as a mole, blind as an owl, wall-eyed, blinded, blindly, blindfold, blindfolded, darkly, O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon.

Dimsightedness

N dimsightedness, dim sight, dull sight half sight, short sight, near sight, long sight, double sight, astigmatic sight, failing sight, dimsightedness, purblindness, lippitude, myopia, presbyopia, confusion of vision, astigmatism, color blindness, chromato pseudo blepsis, Daltonism, nyctalopia, strabismus, strabism, squint, blearedness, day blindness, hemeralopia, nystagmus, xanthocyanopia, xanthopsia, cast in the eye, swivel eye, goggle-eyes, obliquity of vision, winking, nictitation, blinkard, albino, dizziness, swimming, scotomy, cataract, ophthalmia, blinker, screen, deceptio visus, refraction, distortion, illusion, false light, anamorphosis, virtual image, spectrum, mirage, looming, phasma, phantasm, phantasma, phantom, vision, specter, apparition, ghost, ignis fatuus, specter of the Brocken, magic mirror, magic lantern, mirror lens, dim-sighted, myopic, presbyopic, astigmatic, moon-eyed, mope-eyed, blear-eyed, goggle-eyed, gooseberry-eyed, one-eyed, blind of one eye, monoculous, half-blind, purblind, cock-eyed, dim-eyed, mole- eyed, dichroic, blind as a bat, winking.