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halftone

[haf-tohn, hahf-]
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noun
  1. Also called middle-tone. (in painting, drawing, graphics, photography, etc.) a value intermediate between light and dark.
  2. Printing.
    1. a process in which gradation of tone in an image is conveyed by first photographing the image through a screen to break up the continuous tones of the image into minute, closely spaced dots, then using the print obtained to produce a metal plate by photoengraving, and finally using the plate to reproduce the original image by letterpress or offset printing.
    2. the metal plate used in such a process.
    3. the print obtained in such a process.Compare line cut.
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adjective
  1. pertaining to, using, used in, or produced by the halftone process: a halftone screen; a halftone print.
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Origin of halftone

First recorded in 1645–55; half + tone
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for halftone

engraving, picture, photograph, etching, image, sketch, vignette, depiction, decoration, snapshot, painting, cartoon, photo, plate, adornment, figure, design, frontispiece, tailpiece, halftone

Examples from the Web for halftone

Historical Examples of halftone

  • The fine checks in the pileus are clearly seen in the halftone.

    The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise

    M. E. Hard

  • Which is how I happen to spot this folder with the halftone cut on it.

  • In both cases, negatives are made of both the halftone and fine copies.

  • Credit for each photograph is given with the halftone as it appears.

    The Bontoc Igorot

    Albert Ernest Jenks

  • Nine separate men handle each engraving in the halftone department.

British Dictionary definitions for halftone

halftone

noun
    1. a process used to reproduce an illustration by photographing it through a fine screen to break it up into dots
    2. the etched plate thus obtained
    3. the print obtained from such a plate
  2. art a tonal value midway between highlight and dark shading
  3. music, US and Canadian another word for semitone
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adjective
  1. relating to, used in, or made by halftone
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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