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:
The theory is that it can detect cancers earlier, allowing patients to start treatment earlier, while also looking for cancers the medical system doesn’t regularly screen for, like pancreatic cancer.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
There are moments on screen where you sign and moments where you speak.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
There’s President Donald Trump in a screen within a screen, sitting at the Resolute Desk.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
The 2025 law, called the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act or COINS, requires the federal government to screen deals with certain countries involving sensitive technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
On the screen, “Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-In” shone in bright neon-green letters.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Yes, almost everyone was staring at screens, but almost no one was looking at their phone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Next, an interior shot, sweeping across a gleaming white room occupied by sleek screens and glass-domed beds, space-age Sleeping Beauty contraptions.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Throughout the film, which screens at this year’s New York Film Festival, Abraham interviews 24 different members of Israeli military intelligence about their day-to-day operations, learning the extent of the inhumanity running the show.
From Salon ● Sep. 21, 2026
The supertitle screens hang above the set at left and right, and it can be exhausting to keep a dual focus on the characters and their dialogue at the same time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
You’re only remembering shadows of them, stories that seem to be limited to the pages or screens you read them from.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
Longer, award-winning works such as 1992’s “Nitrate Kisses” and 1995’s “Tender Fictions” — both screened at Sundance — eventually raised her profile, giving her a sense that she’d arrived.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
People facing financial hardship were even less likely to be screened.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026
"If more people with PCE exposure are screened for liver fibrosis, the disease can be caught earlier, and patients may have a better chance of recovering their liver function," said Lee.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
We screened the S&P 500 for stocks trading below their 10-year average forward price/sales valuations, and then for projected revenue growth from calendar 2026 through 2028, based on consensus estimates among analysts polled by FactSet.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
Amit is waiting on the screened verandah with cups of steaming mint tea.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
It’s not being pitched as a replacement for common cancer screening methods, like mammograms for breast cancer or PSA blood tests for prostate cancer.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
Entertainment is a major focus throughout the estate, which includes not only the indoor theater but also an outdoor screening area and a separate barroom designed by “Bar Rescue” star Jon Taffer.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
GP and Labour MP for Stroud Dr Simon Opher said there needed to be a "more sensible approach" to medical screening.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Ehrlich’s antisyphilis drug Salvarsan, followed by the antibacterial Prontosil, showed that systematic chemical screening could yield medicines aimed at specific diseases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Then you get a medical screening: “Are you on medication?”
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
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.
