projector
Americannoun
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an apparatus for throwing an image on a screen, as a motion-picture projector or magic lantern.
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a device for projecting a beam of light.
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a person who forms projects or plans.
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Archaic. a person who devises underhanded or unsound plans; schemer.
noun
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Full name: slide projector. an optical instrument that projects an enlarged image of individual slides onto a screen or wall
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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
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a device for projecting a light beam
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a person who devises projects
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of projector
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."
Vocabulary lists containing projector
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:
To begin, each projector beamed a white grid in a trapezoidal shape onto the wall and a portion of the overpass ceiling.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
Elsewhere on the first floor, there is a magnificent movie room that is adorned in red velvet and boasts a fireplace and large projector.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 17, 2026
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
Today, Cosm is using its experience in display tech software to bring live sports and visually augmented movie presentations to LED screens, which have largely taken over from projector systems.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
As the credits roll, he jogs over to talk with the guy running the projector.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
While there are more than 50 Imax screens in the UK, only three are showing it using 70mm film projectors - the BFI and Science Museum in London, and Printworks in Manchester.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
That said, Cinemark reportedly installed Imax 70mm projectors at three of its theaters ahead of “The Odyssey’s” release, and there are 11 more theaters projecting “The Odyssey” in Imax 70mm than there were for “Oppenheimer.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
But can all 2,000 of our theaters be film projectors?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
It’s an admirable acknowledgement of those behind the scenes, slotting film reels into the Dryden’s 75-year-old projectors, summoning shimmering worlds before our eyes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
Turning, I saw the shimmering image of the rock, thrown up by multiple projectors mounted to the surrounding mountain.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
