freeze frame

Or freeze-frame

noun

Television, Movies.

1. an optical effect or technique in which a single frame of film is reprinted in a continuous series, which when shown gives the effect of a still photograph.

2. a button or other mechanism on a projector, videocassette system, etc., allowing one to stop the projected picture at any point.

freeze-frame

noun

1. films television a single frame of a film repeated to give an effect like a still photograph

2. a single frame of a video recording viewed as a still by stopping the tape

verb

1. (tr) to make a freeze-frame of (an image)

Other Word Forms

• freeze-frame adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of freeze frame¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

The idea of the freeze frame on them at the end: OK, we’re together.

From Los Angeles Times

Locking hands, Helly and Mark sprint down the hall toward the unknown as alarms blare, with the episode closing out on a freeze frame of their run as a red painted image.

From Los Angeles Times

With “Love Stinks,” the J. Geils Band enjoyed breakthrough success, followed by the megahits “Centerfold” and “Freeze Frame.”

From Salon

Wolf found international fame in the early 1980s as lead singer of the J. Geils Band, the group behind such hits as “Centerfold,” “Freeze Frame” and “Love Stinks.”

From Salon

The film opens with a shaky, grainy YouTube video of Chris and his friends blowing up a mailbox, his joyful, childlike face captured in freeze frame as he’s running away.

From Los Angeles Times