screen saver

American  

Also screensaver

noun

Computers.

1. a program that displays a constantly shifting pattern on a screen when the computer is idle, originally used to prevent damage to the screen through continuous display of the same image but now used primarily for decoration.

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Example Sentences

Rosner’s imagery is abstract and often looks like the computer graphics you might choose for a screen saver, but better, brilliantly colored and alive.

From Los Angeles Times

The scoreboard might as well have switched to a screen saver.

From The Wall Street Journal

Someone describes it as like being inside a screen saver.

From Los Angeles Times

Apart from that, the broadcast was watchable, like a handsome screen saver, without being interesting in any of the ways the announcer or producers promised.

From Los Angeles Times

His smartphone’s screen saver flashed a photo of his smiling teenage daughter, still living in North Korea.

From New York Times