screen

American  

[skreen] / skrin /

noun

• screens
  plural

1. a movable or fixed device, usually consisting of a covered frame, that provides shelter, serves as a partition, etc.

2. a permanent, usually ornamental partition, as around the choir of a church or across the hall of a medieval house.

3. a specially prepared, light-reflecting surface on which motion pictures, slides, etc., may be projected.

4. Electronics. a surface on which electronically created images or text are displayed, as on a television, computer, mobile device, or radar receiver.

5. Digital Technology. frame.

6. motion pictures collectively or the motion-picture industry.

7. anything that shelters, protects, or conceals.

   a screen of secrecy; A screen of fog prevented our seeing the ship.

   Synonyms:

   shield, guard

8. a frame holding a mesh of wire, cloth, or plastic, for placing in a window or doorway, around a porch, etc., to admit air but exclude insects.

9. a sieve, riddle, or other meshlike device used to separate smaller particles or objects from larger ones, as for grain or sand.

10. a system for screening or grouping people, objects, etc.

11. Military. a body of troops sent out to protect the movement of an army.

12. Navy. a protective formation of small vessels, as destroyers, around or in front of a larger ship or ships.

13. Physics. a shield designed to prevent interference between various agencies.

    electric screen.

14. Electronics. screen grid.

15. Photography. a plate of ground glass or the like on which the image is brought into focus in a camera before being photographed.

16. Photoengraving. a transparent plate containing two sets of fine parallel lines, one crossing the other, used in the halftone process.

17. Sports.

    1. any of various offensive plays in which teammates form a protective formation around the ball carrier, pass receiver, shooter, etc.

    2. any of various defensive plays in which teammates conceal or block an opposing ball carrier, pass receiver, shooter, or the goal, basket, net, etc., itself.

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verb (used with object)

• screens,
  present (3rd person singular)
• screened,
  past participle,  past
• screening
  present participle

1. to shelter, protect, or conceal with or as if with a screen.

   Synonyms:

   mask, hide, shield, defend, veil

2. to select, reject, consider, or group (people, objects, ideas, etc.) by examining systematically.

   Job applicants were screened by the personnel department.

3. to provide with a screen or screens to exclude insects.

   He screened the porch so they could enjoy sitting out on summer evenings.

4. to sift or sort by passing through a screen.

5. to project (a motion picture, slide, etc.) on a screen.

6. Movies.

   1. to show (a motion picture), especially to an invited audience, as of exhibitors and critics.

   2. to photograph with a motion-picture camera; film.

   3. to adapt (a story, play, etc.) for presentation as a motion picture.

7. to lighten (type or areas of a line engraving) by etching a regular pattern of dots or lines into the printing surface.

verb (used without object)

• screens,
  present (3rd person singular)
• screened,
  past participle,  past
• screening
  present participle

1. to be projected on a motion-picture screen.

screen British  

/ skriːn /

noun

1. a light movable frame, panel, or partition serving to shelter, divide, hide, etc

2. anything that serves to shelter, protect, or conceal

3. a frame containing a mesh that is placed over a window or opening to keep out insects

4. a decorated partition, esp in a church around the choir See also rood

5. a sieve

6. a system for selecting people, such as candidates for a job

7. the wide end of a cathode-ray tube, esp in a television set, on which a visible image is formed

8. a white or silvered surface, usually fabric, placed in front of a projector to receive the enlarged image of a film or of slides

9. the film industry or films collectively

10. photog a plate of ground glass in some types of camera on which the image of a subject is focused before being photographed

11. printing a glass marked with fine intersecting lines, used in a camera for making half-tone reproductions

12. men or ships deployed around and ahead of a larger military formation to warn of attack or protect from a specific threat

13. sport a tactical ploy in which a player blocks an opponent's view

14. psychoanal anything that prevents a person from realizing his true feelings about someone or something

15. electronics See screen grid

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verb

1. (sometimes foll by off) to shelter, protect, or conceal

2. to sieve or sort

3. to test or check (an individual or group) so as to determine suitability for a task, etc

4. to examine for the presence of a disease, weapons, etc

   the authorities screened five hundred cholera suspects

5. to provide with a screen or screens

6. to project (a film) onto a screen, esp for public viewing

7. (intr) to be shown at a cinema or on the television

8. printing to photograph (a picture) through a screen to render it suitable for half-tone reproduction

9. sport to block the view of (an opposing player)

screen Scientific  

/ skrēn /

1. The surface on which an image is displayed, as on a television, computer monitor, or radar receiver.

2. An electrode placed between the plate (anode) and the control grid in a tetrode valve, used to reduce the capacitance between the grid and the plate, increasing its ability to respond to high frequencies, especially radio frequencies.

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Synonym Usage

See cover.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• screener
  noun
• screenful
  noun
• superscreen
  noun
• rescreen
  verb (used with object)
• screenable
  adjective
• screenless
  adjective
• screenlike
  adjective
• unscreenable
  adjective
• unscreened
  adjective
• well-screened
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• screens
  plural

Participles

• screening
  present
• screened
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• screen
  simple
• screens
  simple
• have screened
  perfect
• has screened
  perfect
• am screening
  progressive
• are screening
  progressive
• is screening
  progressive
• have been screening
  perfect progressive
• has been screening
  perfect progressive

Past

• screened
  simple
• had screened
  perfect
• was screening
  progressive
• were screening
  progressive
• had been screening
  perfect progressive

Future

• will screen
  simple
• will have screened
  perfect
• will be screening
  progressive
• will have been screening
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of screen

1350–1400; Middle English screne (noun) < Anglo-French; Old French escren ( French écran ) < Frankish *skrank, cognate with Old High German scrank barrier ( German Schrank cupboard)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

screen screens screened screening

"It's really weird watching yourself age on screen because that's not fun," she reveals.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

The touches and feels include the 14-inch center touch screen hosting a Toyota infotainment system of recent vintage, the two inductive charging pads in the center console and the push-to-turn gear selector in the console.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

Real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara appear on screen together for the first time in the latest film from ever-eccentric director Werner Herzog.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

Here’s a screen of companies that have increased their dividend payouts the most over the past five years.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

We’d hung a white curtain across it providing a kind of screen while letting in light.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

“Fjord” screens from Sunday, October 4 at the New York Film Festival, with a wide theatrical release October 9.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

This isn't the first adaptation of Resident Evil, which was brought to cinema screens in 2002 - the first of six films overseen by writer-director Paul WS Anderson.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

Adam Arkin, who plays one of several dubious attorneys circling the hostage-taking, directs half the series and uses, playfully enough, techniques from the period he’s portraying—split screens, for instance, sometimes triple and quadruple.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

A return date for Season 2 has not been announced, but it’s getting closer to arriving on screens.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

I took in the decorations: carved wooden lanterns and heavy painted scrolls hanging from the arbor terrace, screens with images of birds of paradise and other floral designs placed around the tables.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

"Our findings suggest that, if future experiments prove successful, some men, and possibly women too, could be screened and benchmarked for their risk of hair loss before being prescribed GLP-1 medications," said Dr. Petukhova.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

Under the program, the U.S. screened Mexicans for aptitude for the work, and for attitude.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

People facing financial hardship were even less likely to be screened.

From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026

Evercore also screened for stocks with negative three-month earnings revision trends.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026

Then I set up the card table on the screened breezeway between the house and the garage.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

When I saw the film at a screening there, Mr. Wilson joked that he’d opened the theater so there would be at least one place where his movie would be shown.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

The NHS is rolling out the self-testing kits to increase screening numbers, with data suggesting about a third of women are not up to date with appointments.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

It considered the reported DNA damage signals, including those involving sucralose-6-acetate, but judged the relevant screening evidence to have limited relevance for its assessment.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

Last June, the film had a 10th anniversary screening in Venice, hosted by the Venice Surfing Assn.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

“I figured the FBI would be screening your mail. And when I saw Andre’s posts online…” Camille and I swivel to stare at Andre, who looks embarrassed.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

Related Words

• cull
• evaluate
• filter
• scan
• select