backlight

[ bak-lahyt ]

noun
  1. Movies, Television. a light source placed behind an actor, object, or scene to create a highlight that separates the subject from the background: Put a backlight on that rain to make it more visible in this evening shot.

  2. Electronics. the light source, often LED arrays, behind the screen of a flat-screen electronic display, as a television, computer monitor, or smartphone: A full-array LED backlight gives the picture a deeper color range than an edge-lit screen would.

verb (used with object),back·light·ed or back·lit, back·light·ing.
  1. to illuminate from behind: One of the wedding photos is just a silhouette of the couple backlighted by the sunset on the beach.The hallway lamp backlit Mom when she cracked our bedroom door to check on us and whisper goodnight.

Origin of backlight

1
First recorded in 1950–55; back1 + light1

Words Nearby backlight

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use backlight in a sentence

  • Willis's taxi ran on past the other, and through the backlight the inspector saw Archer alight and pass into the hotel.

    The Pit Prop Syndicate | Freeman Wills Crofts

British Dictionary definitions for back light

back light

noun
  1. 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