backlight

[bak-lahyt]

noun

Movies, Television. a light source placed behind an actor, object, or scene to create a highlight that separates the subject from the background.

verb (used with object), back·light·ed or back·lit, back·light·ing.

to illuminate (something) from behind.

Origin of backlight

First recorded in 1950–55; back¹ + light¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for back light

back light

noun

light falling on a photographic or television subject from the rear

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