watermark

[ waw-ter-mahrk, wot-er- ]

noun

1. a mark indicating the height to which water rises or has risen, as in a river or inlet.
2. water line ( def 5 ).
3. a figure or design impressed in some paper during manufacture, visible when the paper is held to the light.
4. Also dig·it·al wa·ter·mark []. Computers. a small piece of code or identifiable data sequence embedded into a digital file, usually an image or an audio or video file, as a traceable marker of origin or ownership.

verb (used with object)

1. to mark (paper or a digital file) with a watermark.
2. to impress (a design, pattern, etc.), as a watermark.
3. Computers. to place (a digital identifier) into a file.

watermark

/ ˈwɔːtəˌmɑːk /

noun

1. a distinguishing mark impressed on paper during manufacture, visible when the paper is held up to the light
2. another word for water line water line

verb

1. to mark (paper) with a watermark

Other Words From

• un·wa·ter·marked adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of watermark¹

First recorded in 1625–35; water + mark ¹

Example Sentences

Pay the $2 upgrade fee to get access to all of the features, such as a scrollbar removal and the option to drop in watermarks on top of your screenshots.

From Popular-Science

YouTube’s decision to bar videos carrying other platforms’ watermark fits with this trend.

From Digiday

The free trial version will leave watermarks on your documents, but if you want to get rid of them, it’ll cost you $50 for 6 months, or $90 for an entire year.

From Popular-Science

Over the past month, workers used ultraviolet light to check ballots for watermarks that don’t exist.

From Washington Post

Bennett at one point said the workers were hunting for watermarks — though county officials have said the Maricopa County ballots don’t bear watermarks.

From Washington Post

Do they really need to post this video, which TMZ proudly put their watermark over so that everyone knows where it came from?

From The Daily Beast

Such watermark images are features more generally seen in foreign currencies than American ones.

From The Daily Beast

Or Wintour, who has another agenda entirely for promoting rail-thinness as the watermark for beauty?

From The Daily Beast

There was no doubt about it, the mark on the dirty blank paper was undoubtedly the Treasury watermark.

From Project Gutenberg

Later on I recognised the peculiar watermark of waving lines as the Government watermark in the first issue of Treasury war notes.

From Project Gutenberg

I could not account for the Treasury watermark, designed to prevent forgery of the notes, appearing on a piece of blank paper.

From Project Gutenberg

As to the position of the watermark in the sheets, I believe it to be central.

From Project Gutenberg

The watermark on this issue appears variously upright or sideways, varieties of each being inverted.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• apex
• apogee
• upper limit