celluloid
Americannoun
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a tough, highly flammable substance consisting essentially of nitrocellulose and camphor: once used in the manufacture of motion-picture and x-ray film, it is now used in a limited line of other products, including guitar picks, musical instruments, and table tennis balls.
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motion-picture film.
He was an intense director and a scrupulous editor, famous for leaving piles of celluloid on the cutting-room floor.
adjective
noun
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a flammable thermoplastic material consisting of cellulose nitrate mixed with a plasticizer, usually camphor: used in sheets, rods, and tubes for making a wide range of articles
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a cellulose derivative used for coating film
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one of the transparent sheets on which the constituent drawings of an animated film are prepared
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a transparent sheet used as an overlay in artwork
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cinema film
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Etymology
Origin of celluloid
First recorded in 1870–75; cellul(ose) + -oid; formerly a trademark
Explanation
Celluloid is a type of plastic that’s transparent and flammable. Until recently, most movies were filmed on celluloid. Celluloid is a name for film used in shooting movies. Because of its use in making films, this term came to stand for movies in general. Its days in the projection room are now pretty much finished — due to the rise of digital filming — but the figurative meaning lives on, wherever stars aspire. For example, you could say a TV actor was making the move from the small screen to celluloid. Besides movies, celluloid is used in shooting x-rays.
Vocabulary lists containing celluloid
Between Shades of Gray
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The Friendship War
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Martin Scorsese on Cinema
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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.
Pop star Sabrina Carpenter wears a dress made out of celluloid film strips.
From BBC • May 4, 2026
The dialogue-heavy chamber piece -- basically a theatrical play on celluloid -- is the fruit of Hawke's decades-long collaboration with director Richard Linklater, which began more than 30 years ago with 1995's "Before Sunrise."
From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026
There is a virtual crowd of female editors reminiscing and reflecting on Ms. Hillgrove and her work, and the fact that there was a celluloid ceiling in the film industry.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026
Its use of a claustrophobic frame, swirly bokeh and color bias celluloid deepen a mother’s downward spiral.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2025
It was called that to differentiate it from a celluloid collar which was what poor men wore because it could be laundered simply by being wiped with a wet rag.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
