halftone

[ haf-tohn ]

noun

1. Also called middle-tone. (in painting, drawing, graphics, photography, etc.) a value intermediate between light and dark.
2. Printing.
   1. a process in which gradation of tone in an image is conveyed by first photographing the image through a screen to break up the continuous tones of the image into minute, closely spaced dots, then using the print obtained to produce a metal plate by photoengraving, and finally using the plate to reproduce the original image by letterpress or offset printing.
   2. the metal plate used in such a process.
   3. the print obtained in such a process. Compare line cut.

adjective

1. pertaining to, using, used in, or produced by the halftone process:

   a halftone screen; a halftone print.

halftone

/ ˈhɑːfˌtəʊn /

noun

1. 1. a process used to reproduce an illustration by photographing it through a fine screen to break it up into dots
   2. the etched plate thus obtained
   3. the print obtained from such a plate
2. art a tonal value midway between highlight and dark shading
3. music another word for semitone

adjective

1. relating to, used in, or made by halftone

Word History and Origins

Origin of halftone¹

First recorded in 1645–55; half + tone

Example Sentences

TJ: I’ve been using the halftone line to transform my mother’s images and cause them to intersect and intertwine with my images of moments that I’ve had since coming out of isolation.

From Los Angeles Times

The other is Jacqueline Humphries, whose dense abstractions of halftone dots and emoticons reaffirm painting as an ideal medium of digital perception.

From New York Times

Though he inks and colors digitally, his art maintains an analog quality, filled with halftones that suggest DIY lithography.

From The Verge

She converts the images into halftone lines and paints these lines into her busy surfaces.

From New York Times

She covers these turbid, hot-colored grounds with those deft black lines and smudges, plus airbrushed spumes of white or red, and also multicolored halftone dots that form a bridge between image and information.

From New York Times

Related Words

• cartoon
• decoration
• depiction
• engraving
• etching
• image
• painting
• photo
• photograph
• picture
• sketch
• snapshot
• vignette