screen
Americannoun
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screens
plural
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a movable or fixed device, usually consisting of a covered frame, that provides shelter, serves as a partition, etc.
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a permanent, usually ornamental partition, as around the choir of a church or across the hall of a medieval house.
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a specially prepared, light-reflecting surface on which motion pictures, slides, etc., may be projected.
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Electronics. a surface on which electronically created images or text are displayed, as on a television, computer, mobile device, or radar receiver.
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Digital Technology. frame.
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motion pictures collectively or the motion-picture industry.
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anything that shelters, protects, or conceals.
a screen of secrecy; A screen of fog prevented our seeing the ship.
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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.
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a sieve, riddle, or other meshlike device used to separate smaller particles or objects from larger ones, as for grain or sand.
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a system for screening or grouping people, objects, etc.
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Military. a body of troops sent out to protect the movement of an army.
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Navy. a protective formation of small vessels, as destroyers, around or in front of a larger ship or ships.
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Physics. a shield designed to prevent interference between various agencies.
electric screen.
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Electronics. screen grid.
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Photography. a plate of ground glass or the like on which the image is brought into focus in a camera before being photographed.
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Photoengraving. a transparent plate containing two sets of fine parallel lines, one crossing the other, used in the halftone process.
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Sports.
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any of various offensive plays in which teammates form a protective formation around the ball carrier, pass receiver, shooter, etc.
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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)
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screens,
present (3rd person singular)
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screened,
past participle, past
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screening
present participle
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to shelter, protect, or conceal with or as if with a screen.
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to select, reject, consider, or group (people, objects, ideas, etc.) by examining systematically.
Job applicants were screened by the personnel department.
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to provide with a screen or screens to exclude insects.
He screened the porch so they could enjoy sitting out on summer evenings.
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to sift or sort by passing through a screen.
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to project (a motion picture, slide, etc.) on a screen.
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Movies.
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to show (a motion picture), especially to an invited audience, as of exhibitors and critics.
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to photograph with a motion-picture camera; film.
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to adapt (a story, play, etc.) for presentation as a motion picture.
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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)
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screens,
present (3rd person singular)
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screened,
past participle, past
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screening
present participle
noun
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a light movable frame, panel, or partition serving to shelter, divide, hide, etc
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anything that serves to shelter, protect, or conceal
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a frame containing a mesh that is placed over a window or opening to keep out insects
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a decorated partition, esp in a church around the choir See also rood
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a sieve
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a system for selecting people, such as candidates for a job
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the wide end of a cathode-ray tube, esp in a television set, on which a visible image is formed
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a white or silvered surface, usually fabric, placed in front of a projector to receive the enlarged image of a film or of slides
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the film industry or films collectively
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photog a plate of ground glass in some types of camera on which the image of a subject is focused before being photographed
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printing a glass marked with fine intersecting lines, used in a camera for making half-tone reproductions
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men or ships deployed around and ahead of a larger military formation to warn of attack or protect from a specific threat
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sport a tactical ploy in which a player blocks an opponent's view
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psychoanal anything that prevents a person from realizing his true feelings about someone or something
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electronics See screen grid
verb
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(sometimes foll by off) to shelter, protect, or conceal
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to sieve or sort
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to test or check (an individual or group) so as to determine suitability for a task, etc
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to examine for the presence of a disease, weapons, etc
the authorities screened five hundred cholera suspects
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to provide with a screen or screens
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to project (a film) onto a screen, esp for public viewing
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(intr) to be shown at a cinema or on the television
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printing to photograph (a picture) through a screen to render it suitable for half-tone reproduction
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sport to block the view of (an opposing player)
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The surface on which an image is displayed, as on a television, computer monitor, or radar receiver.
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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.
Synonym Usage
See cover.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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screenernoun
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screenfulnoun
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superscreennoun
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rescreenverb (used with object)
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screenableadjective
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screenlessadjective
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screenlikeadjective
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unscreenableadjective
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unscreenedadjective
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well-screenedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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screensimple
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screenssimple
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have screenedperfect
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has screenedperfect
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am screeningprogressive
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are screeningprogressive
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is screeningprogressive
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have been screeningperfect progressive
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has been screeningperfect progressive
Past
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screenedsimple
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had screenedperfect
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was screeningprogressive
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were screeningprogressive
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had been screeningperfect progressive
Future
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
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:
I have spent ten years loving Lesbos as an inheritance, a thing I own from a distance, and the smoke on my screen has shamed that love into something more useful.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
Though the drone could be piloted through the screen, the goggles are “smoother and it’s just a more efficient way to use the drone,” said Silden, the pilot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
The report said that play was too often “quietly squeezed out” of daily life by things like increased traffic, screen time, and an intolerance against play in public spaces.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
She and Camerieri are also at work on a musical adaptation of “This Bird Has Flown” for the stage or the screen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Blankets are spread out between the screen and the chairs.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
“All of them were worth it” when it came to the screens, but his local theater had uncomfortable and outdated seats that hurt his experience.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
The interagency body, chaired by the Treasury secretary, screens foreign acquisitions of American assets for national-security threats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
The country's operational command said it had detected an "unidentified object" which then dropped off radar screens.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Inside, TV screens replaced the overhead luggage compartments, and a strip of lights lined the carriages’ walls from front to back.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
There was a faint smell of urine that was erased by the breeze rolling through the window screens.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
Bhasin says certain at-risk subsets of the population should be screened, such as people with chronic kidney disease on dialysis, men who have been treated with chemotherapy, or have chronic liver disease.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
However, as Flavio Bolsonaro officially launched his candidacy on Saturday, a deepfake video of his father was screened at the Liberal Party convention.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that all military personnel aged 30 and over will be screened for testosterone deficiency as part of their annual health checks.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Depending on which fact you weigh, the same company can be screened out or welcomed in.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
“Let me see,” he said, “fire screened, lights out. Leave the doors for Mrs. Dudley to close in the morning.”
From "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson
The report shares examples of AI applications in governance, such as to increase diabetes screening volumes in Bangladesh, or in reducing costs for Indian farmers through advanced weather forecasts.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
The NHS breast cancer screening programme is regularly evaluated by the UK National Screening Committee.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
A Cinema Foundation study showed that 13% of moviegoers always buy tickets to a PLF screening, while 15% never do — yet the overwhelming majority, 72%, said that it depends on the film.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
Once a potential investment passes an initial screening, a team builds financial models and meets with prospective partners to pressure-test the viability of a deal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
They began screening Lost Boys to see whether they had living relatives in Africa, and whether they had fought in the war.
From "Lost Boy, Lost Girl" by John Bul Dau
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.
