microscopic

Etymology

micro- + -scopic

adj

1. Of, or relating to microscopes or microscopy; microscopal
   We supply all microscopic stains and other materials.
2. So small that it can only be seen using a microscope.
   The water was full of microscopic organisms.
3. Very small; minute
   Compared to the galaxy, we are microscopic in scale.
   By wholesale omission of connections and by the use of a microscopic scale of photographic reproduction which makes some of the most important tables difficult to read, the size has been cut down from last winter's 580 to 520 pages only. 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: London Midland Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593
   ... the notion of the microscopic was often used in the foundations of quantum theory right from the start, to indicate the realm in which quantum theory is required in order to explain phenomena when classical theory cannot do so; quantum theory was generally considered in those years to apply only to situations involving atoms and smaller “microscopic” entities... 2014 September, Gregg Jaeger, “What in the (quantum) world is macroscopic?”, in American Journal of Physics, volume 82, number 9, pages 896–905
4. (figurative) Carried out with great attention to detail.
   The police carried out a microscopic search of the crime scene.
5. Able to see extremely minute objects.