Polaroid
American-
a brand of material for producing polarized light from unpolarized light by dichroism, consisting typically of a stretched sheet of colorless plastic treated with an iodine solution so as to have long, thin, parallel chains of polymeric molecules containing conductive iodine atoms. It is used widely in optical and lighting devices to reduce glare.
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Also called Polaroid Land Camera. Also called Polaroid Camera,. the first brand of instant camera, developed by Edwin H. Land and marketed since 1948.
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Also called Polaroid print. a print made by such a camera.
noun
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a type of plastic sheet that can polarize a transmitted beam of normal light because it is composed of long parallel molecules. It only transmits plane-polarized light if these molecules are parallel to the plane of polarization and, since reflected light is partly polarized, it is often used in sunglasses to eliminate glare
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any of several types of camera yielding a finished print by means of a special developing and processing technique that occurs inside the camera and takes only a few seconds to complete
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(plural) sunglasses with lenses made from Polaroid plastic
adjective
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.
Lost will be the ungentrified bodegas that celebrate neighborhood regulars by thumbtacking Polaroid photos of them to the wall and let customers buy sandwich bread on credit.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 17, 2026
A keen adopter of technologies like the Polaroid and video cameras throughout his career, Hockney embraced the Apple iPad in his 70s.
From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026
In the 1970s, he became intrigued by the Polaroid camera, making hundreds of collages which played with space and perspective.
From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026
If one of your friends took out a Polaroid camera when the final results were announced, how many people in the developed picture celebrating your win would give you the most joy?
From MarketWatch • Apr. 7, 2026
Now Aiyi beams and points to a Polaroid picture of my father.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
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.
