lateral aberration [`lad·ǝ·rǝl ´ab·ǝ`rā·shǝn] OPTICS 1. The distance from the axis of an optical system at which a ray intersects a plane perpendicular to the axis through the focus of paraxial rays. 2. The difference between the reciprocals of the image distances for paraxial and rim rays. 3. For chromatic aberration, the difference in sizes of the images of an object for two different colors. |