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Synonyms

afterimage

American  
[af-ter-im-ij, ahf-] / ˈæf tərˌɪm ɪdʒ, ˈɑf- /

noun

Psychology.
  1. a visual image or other sense impression that persists after the stimulus that caused it is no longer operative.


afterimage British  
/ ˈɑːftərˌɪmɪdʒ /

noun

  1. Also called: aftersensation.   photogene.  a sustained or renewed sensation, esp visual, after the original stimulus has ceased

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of afterimage

1875–80; translation of German Nachbild; see after, image

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Czernowitz was by then a Habsburg afterimage: Jews, Germans, Romanians, Ukrainians and Poles, brushing past one another in schools, markets and cafes, their lives conducted in competing alphabets.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 5, 2026

Bodies — theirs and others — fill in the space, but their afterimage reverberates.

From New York Times Feb. 2, 2024

Once, when I was a teenager, I saw a fireball that was so bright that it left an afterimage on my eye.

From Scientific American Sep. 8, 2023

Through photography and sleuthy archival projects she maps a certain afterimage of Los Angeles like a noir conceptualist.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 21, 2021

I looked up in time to see her disappear around the landing above us, that endless mane of hair trailing behind her like a blurred afterimage.

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs

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