pixelate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
in computer graphics and digital photography, to cause (an image) to break up into pixels, as by overenlarging the image.
When enlarging a photograph, first increase the resolution to avoid pixelating it.
-
to blur (parts of a digital image) by creating unclear, pixel-like patches, for purposes of censorship or to maintain the anonymity of the subject.
Police have asked the media to pixelate the faces of the men who were taken into custody.
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pixelate
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.
See Examples For:
Teng worries that she will have to pixelate the gruesome scene to protect the dignity of the children.
From Barron's ● Jan. 27, 2026
In 1998, British producers Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling pioneered its modern usage by making Cher’s velvety contralto pixelate and reconstitute over and over, measure by measure, making history.
From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2023
Not until the crowd at Camden Yards stood and cheered him, until he paused and turned to watch them do it, did glimpses of a better future start to pixelate the present.
From Washington Post ● May 21, 2022
It was the last day of January, summer in Australia, and the shorn barley and wheat fields we’d driven past had seemed to pixelate in the bright afternoon sunlight.
From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2018
The alien video-game creatures pixelate everything they touch.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 22, 2015
He recalls his first time using a computer, navigating a pixelated “Donkey Kong” figure across the neon screen of a Texas Instruments machine.
From MarketWatch ● May 23, 2026
It is one of the planet’s top-selling toy brands, and the toy’s singular pixelated appearance is instantly recognizable on any screen.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
Some areas looked pixelated on the Chromebook, and on the Air I noticed details, like the leaves of a fern or rust on an airlock door, that weren’t as clear on the others.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
The company is showing off the Tamagotchi's evolution from bouncing black-and-white pixelated characters to colour screens and wifi connectivity at a special 30th anniversary exhibition that opens in Tokyo on Wednesday.
From Barron's ● Jan. 7, 2026
Instead, at the very center of the screen, there was a large white oval with pixelated edges.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
The victims faces were visible in the images, but Armstrong had obscured his own identity by distorting and pixelating it.
From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2023
The telltale signs of wavelets that Daubechies spotted were on the field, pixelating at larger scales, producing a fuzzy patchwork of green.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2021
Circular apertures perforate the Viroc walls, pixelating the view and transforming the flamboyant landscape into a pointillist canvas; it’s the inverse of trompe l’oeil, with natural beauty manipulated to look like painting.
From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2021
Meanwhile, here's Si Hawkins: "Any truth in the rumour that due to their BT connections, Sky will be pixelating Owen and Brown?"
From The Guardian ● Aug. 8, 2010
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.
