screen

[ skreen ]

noun

1. a movable or fixed device, usually consisting of a covered frame, that provides shelter, serves as a partition, etc.
2. a permanent, usually ornamental partition, as around the choir of a church or across the hall of a medieval house.
3. a specially prepared, light-reflecting surface on which motion pictures, slides, etc., may be projected.
4. Electronics. a surface on which electronically created images or text are displayed, as on a television, computer, mobile device, or radar receiver.
5. Digital Technology. frame ( def 9 ).
6. motion pictures collectively or the motion-picture industry.
7. anything that shelters, protects, or conceals:

   a screen of secrecy; A screen of fog prevented our seeing the ship.

   Synonyms: shield, guard

8. a frame holding a mesh of wire, cloth, or plastic, for placing in a window or doorway, around a porch, etc., to admit air but exclude insects.
9. a sieve, riddle, or other meshlike device used to separate smaller particles or objects from larger ones, as for grain or sand.
10. a system for screening or grouping people, objects, etc.
11. Military. a body of troops sent out to protect the movement of an army.
12. Navy. a protective formation of small vessels, as destroyers, around or in front of a larger ship or ships.
13. Physics. a shield designed to prevent interference between various agencies:

    electric screen.

14. Electronics. screen grid.
15. Photography. a plate of ground glass or the like on which the image is brought into focus in a camera before being photographed.
16. Photoengraving. a transparent plate containing two sets of fine parallel lines, one crossing the other, used in the halftone process.
17. Sports.
    1. any of various offensive plays in which teammates form a protective formation around the ball carrier, pass receiver, shooter, etc.
    2. any of various defensive plays in which teammates conceal or block an opposing ball carrier, pass receiver, shooter, or the goal, basket, net, etc., itself.

verb (used with object)

1. to shelter, protect, or conceal with or as if with a screen.

   Synonyms: mask, hide, shield, defend, veil

2. to select, reject, consider, or group (people, objects, ideas, etc.) by examining systematically:

   Job applicants were screened by the personnel department.

3. to provide with a screen or screens to exclude insects:

   He screened the porch so they could enjoy sitting out on summer evenings.

4. to sift or sort by passing through a screen.
5. to project (a motion picture, slide, etc.) on a screen.
6. Movies.
   1. to show (a motion picture), especially to an invited audience, as of exhibitors and critics.
   2. to photograph with a motion-picture camera; film.
   3. to adapt (a story, play, etc.) for presentation as a motion picture.
7. to lighten (type or areas of a line engraving) by etching a regular pattern of dots or lines into the printing surface.

verb (used without object)

1. to be projected on a motion-picture screen.

screen

/ skriːn /

noun

1. a light movable frame, panel, or partition serving to shelter, divide, hide, etc
2. anything that serves to shelter, protect, or conceal
3. a frame containing a mesh that is placed over a window or opening to keep out insects
4. a decorated partition, esp in a church around the choir See also rood
5. a sieve
6. a system for selecting people, such as candidates for a job
7. the wide end of a cathode-ray tube, esp in a television set, on which a visible image is formed
8. a white or silvered surface, usually fabric, placed in front of a projector to receive the enlarged image of a film or of slides
9. the screen
   the film industry or films collectively
10. photog a plate of ground glass in some types of camera on which the image of a subject is focused before being photographed
11. printing a glass marked with fine intersecting lines, used in a camera for making half-tone reproductions
12. men or ships deployed around and ahead of a larger military formation to warn of attack or protect from a specific threat
13. sport a tactical ploy in which a player blocks an opponent's view
14. psychoanal anything that prevents a person from realizing his true feelings about someone or something
15. electronics See screen grid

verb

1. sometimes foll by off to shelter, protect, or conceal
2. to sieve or sort
3. to test or check (an individual or group) so as to determine suitability for a task, etc
4. to examine for the presence of a disease, weapons, etc

   the authorities screened five hundred cholera suspects

5. to provide with a screen or screens
6. to project (a film) onto a screen, esp for public viewing
7. intr to be shown at a cinema or on the television
8. printing to photograph (a picture) through a screen to render it suitable for half-tone reproduction
9. sport to block the view of (an opposing player)

screen

/ skrēn /

1. The surface on which an image is displayed, as on a television, computer monitor, or radar receiver.
2. An electrode placed between the plate (anode) and the control grid in a tetrode valve, used to reduce the capacitance between the grid and the plate, increasing its ability to respond to high frequencies, especially radio frequencies.

Derived Forms

• ˈscreenˌlike, adjective
• ˈscreenˌful, noun
• ˈscreenable, adjective
• ˈscreener, noun

Other Words From

• screena·ble adjective
• screener noun
• screenless adjective
• screenlike adjective
• re·screen verb (used with object)
• super·screen noun adjective
• un·screena·ble adjective
• un·screened adjective
• well-screened adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of screen¹

1350–1400; Middle English screne (noun) < Anglo-French; Old French escren ( French écran ) < Frankish *skrank, cognate with Old High German scrank barrier ( German Schrank cupboard)

Word History and Origins

Origin of screen¹

C15: from Old French escren (French écran ); related to Old High German skrank, German Schrank cupboard

Synonym Study

See cover.

Example Sentences

The garrulous assistant to a fading screen siren in Clouds of Sils Maria.

From The Daily Beast

“JSwipe is currently under heavy load,” flashed across the screen, one night as a friend and I looked at it.

From The Daily Beast

A sad-faced orange Star of David flashed across the iPhone screen as we swiped left on “James” (not his real name).

From The Daily Beast

Her name was Courtney, and she was a fashion editor for magazines like Photoplay, Screenland, Silver Screen.

From The Daily Beast

A more rugged version of American masculinity is hard to find on screen.

From The Daily Beast

Among the Perpendicular additions to the church last named may be noted a very beautiful oaken rood-screen.

From Project Gutenberg

The fire had been heaped over with earth—to screen it from prying eyes, I suppose, while the good work went on.

From Project Gutenberg

Now, he chose a small table in a corner of the balcony, close to the glass screen.

From Project Gutenberg

According to a weekly paper not only is Constance Binney a famous screen star, but she is also a first-class ukelele player.

From Project Gutenberg

It was ten minutes before she raised her hand and pointed to a wilted but still effective screen.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• divider
• partition