per·spec·tive

/pɚˈspɛktıv/ noun, pl -tives

1 : a way of thinking about and understanding something (such as a particular issue or life in general)

[count]

He helped us see the problem from a new perspective. [=angle, point of view]

The story is told from the perspective of a teenage boy in the 1940s.

marriage as seen from a male/female perspective

From an economic perspective, the policy has some merit.

a critique of the war from a historical perspective

— often + on

My grandmother has a surprisingly modern perspective [=outlook] on life.

They had totally different perspectives on the war.

[noncount]

He had a complete change of perspective after his illness.

2 [noncount]

2 a : a condition in which a person knows which things are important and does not worry or think about unimportant things

He had lost all sense of perspective and believed that his life was ruined.

— often used after in or into

She helped him put his life in proper perspective.

Seeing how difficult their lives are has really put my problems into perspective.

2 b : the ability to understand which things are truly important and which things are not

Try to keep/maintain your perspective and not get too worried about it.

I was trying to gain some perspective on the things that I learned in college. [=I was deciding which things were important and which things were not]

3 [count] : the angle or direction that a person uses to look at an object

She drew the building from several different perspectives.

From this perspective, the city looks peaceful.

4 [noncount] : a way of showing depth or distance in a painting or drawing by making the objects that are far away smaller and making the objects that are closer to the viewer larger

I admire her use of perspective in her paintings.

a drawing done in perspective = a perspective drawing