projector

American  

[pruh-jek-ter] / prəˈdʒɛk tər /

noun

1. an apparatus for throwing an image on a screen, as a motion-picture projector or magic lantern.

2. a device for projecting a beam of light.

3. a person who forms projects or plans.

4. Archaic. a person who devises underhanded or unsound plans; schemer.

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projector British  

/ prəˈdʒɛktə /

noun

1. Full name: slide projector.  an optical instrument that projects an enlarged image of individual slides onto a screen or wall

2. Full name: film projector.   cine projector.  an optical instrument in which a strip of film is wound past a lens at a fixed speed so that the frames can be viewed as a continuously moving sequence on a screen or wall

3. a device for projecting a light beam

4. a person who devises projects

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Etymology

Origin of projector

First recorded in 1590–1600; project + -or ²

Explanation

A projector is a machine you use for showing movies or images on a screen. In the days before digital cameras, tourists would frequently take pictures with slide film that they could show their friends later with a projector. Today, most theaters use digital equipment to show movies, although a few are still filmed on actual film and require an old-fashioned projector. While these days a teacher might use a large television and a laptop to show the class an educational film, they would once have had to use a projector and a film strip. Projector comes from the verb project, "cast an image," from Latin roots pro-, "forward," and iacere, "to throw."

Example Sentences

In his downtime he would travel by horse and buggy across Pennsylvania and neighboring states with what he called his "exhibition": a new-fangled Edison phonograph, a magic lantern slide projector and later on, movies.

From Barron's • Apr. 13, 2026

A theatre is among the makeshift displacement camps in the city, with some 35 people living there, sleeping in the projector room and the auditorium.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026

In fact, a projector or display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels could fit within an area of just one square millimeter.

From Science Daily • Mar. 4, 2026

The main living room had a video projector and screen.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 14, 2025

The characters loitered in deserted rooms, no one talking, everything silent for whole minutes except the hiss of the projector and rain pounding on the roof.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt