A common eye condition where the cornea or lens has an irregular curved shape, causing blurry or distorted vision at all distances.
From Greek 'a-' (without) plus 'stigma' (point, mark) plus -ism (condition). First coined by William Whewell in the 1840s to describe the optical defect where light doesn't focus at a single point.
About 1 in 3 people have astigmatism, which means correcting a smudged focus is one of the most common reasons people wear glasses—it's like the eye equivalent of an out-of-focus photograph that needs post-processing.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.