strobe

[ strohb ]

noun

1. Also called strobe light. stroboscope ( def 2a ).

adjective

1. stroboscopic.

strobe

/ strəʊb /

noun

1. short for strobe lighting stroboscope

verb

1. to give the appearance of arrested or slow motion by using intermittent illumination

strobe

/ strōb /

1. A strobe light.
2. A stroboscope.
3. A spot of higher than normal intensity in the sweep of an indicator on a scanning device, as on a radar screen, used as a reference mark for determining the position or distance of the object scanned or detected.

Word History and Origins

Origin of strobe¹

First recorded in 1940–45; shortened form

Example Sentences

Add to it pulsing strobe lights and floppy, oversized, mouthless cyclopes and you have all the makings of a nightmare trip.

From Los Angeles Times

Perhaps you’re making the neighborhood kids work for their treats by having them run a gantlet of shrieks, fog and strobe lights to get to the bowl of candy.

From Los Angeles Times

A blurry shot of Club F—, the space dense with bodies under the strobe lights.

From Los Angeles Times

“If you turn on the strobe lights on a C-17 we would see it.”

From Seattle Times

Participants in full kit first workout on treadmill climbers and other gym machines, then crawl through the maze as strobe lights, smoke and loud noises are added to disorient them.

From Seattle Times

More About Strobe

What does strobe mean?

Strobe is another name for a strobe light—a type of specialized lamp that produces a continuous series of short, bright flashes of light.

Strobe lights are also called stroboscopes or stroboscopic lamps.

Strobe can also be used as a verb meaning to flash in such a way.

The kind of rapid flashing produced by a strobe light (called strobe lighting) has the effect of seeming to freeze the movement of things in motion. This happens because the thing that’s moving—such as a person dancing—is only lit up for a fraction of a second.

Strobe lights are associated with their use at concerts, raves, and dance clubs, but they also have technical uses in photography. Because strobes produce very short, extremely bright bursts of light, they can be used in conjunction with a camera to photograph a rapidly moving object, such as a bullet, for such a short duration that it will appear to be standing still in the resulting photo. Strobes also have other scientific uses involving the measurement of vibration and other types of high-speed motion.

Strobes look like they’re just flashing on and off, but this effect is usually produced by an electric discharge in a gas or a disc that rotates in front of a light source.

Example: I hate going to concerts that use strobes—I end up having to close my eyes most of the time to shield them from the bright flashes.

Where does strobe come from?

Strobe is a relatively recent word. The first records of the word come from around the 1940s. It’s a shortening of the word stroboscopic, the first part of which comes from the Greek strobos, meaning “a twisting” or “a whirling.” (The term stroboscopic is used in terms like stroboscopic lamp and stroboscopic microscope.)

Strobe lights might look cool, but they can cause seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. They can also cause discomfort in people with sensitivity to light. Some TV shows and movies show a warning before they start informing viewers that strobe effects will be used.

Did you know ... ?

What are some synonyms for strobe?

• strobe light
• stroboscope
• stroboscopic lamp

What are some words that share a root or word element with strobe? 

 

• strobe lighting
• strobic
• strobotron
• stroboscopic microscope

What are some words that often get used in discussing strobe?

• light
• lamp
• flash
• pulse
• effect
• freeze
• motion

How is strobe used in real life?

Strobes are closely associated with their use in lighting effects for concerts and raves, but they also have technical and scientific uses.

Us: we would like steady red and green lights during our set please.

Lighting directors: ok so strobes, movers, haze, orange lights, lasers, 60 black out? Got it.

— vincent bennett: filthy casual (@xDIAMONDCUTx) November 9, 2019

Artists really need to remember that people with epilepsy might want to go to their shows. All these strobe/flashing lights are really dangerous and I don’t see enough people talking about it

— Katie △⃒⃘ (@katietano) February 22, 2019

Weirdest power outage I've ever experienced here in Newport Beach. Everything is dark in the neighborhood, yet all the GFI breakers in the house keep snapping on and off. Killed our power at the main breaker to be safe. Random houses have outside lights strobing on and off.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) December 2, 2018

 

 

Try using strobe!

Which of the following words is LEAST likely to be used to describe the lighting effect produced by a strobe?

A. flashing
B. pulsing
C. uninterrupted
D. intermittent