strobe
Americannoun
adjective
noun
verb
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A strobe light.
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A stroboscope.
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A spot of higher than normal intensity in the sweep of an indicator on a scanning device, as on a radar screen, used as a reference mark for determining the position or distance of the object scanned or detected.
Usage
What does strobe mean? Strobe is another name for a strobe light—a type of specialized lamp that produces a continuous series of short, bright flashes of light. Strobe lights are also called stroboscopes or stroboscopic lamps. Strobe can also be used as a verb meaning to flash in such a way. The kind of rapid flashing produced by a strobe light (called strobe lighting) has the effect of seeming to freeze the movement of things in motion. This happens because the thing that’s moving—such as a person dancing—is only lit up for a fraction of a second. Strobe lights are associated with their use at concerts, raves, and dance clubs, but they also have technical uses in photography. Because strobes produce very short, extremely bright bursts of light, they can be used in conjunction with a camera to photograph a rapidly moving object, such as a bullet, for such a short duration that it will appear to be standing still in the resulting photo. Strobes also have other scientific uses involving the measurement of vibration and other types of high-speed motion. Strobes look like they’re just flashing on and off, but this effect is usually produced by an electric discharge in a gas or a disc that rotates in front of a light source. Example: I hate going to concerts that use strobes—I end up having to close my eyes most of the time to shield them from the bright flashes.
Etymology
Origin of strobe
First recorded in 1940–45; shortened form
Explanation
A strobe is a light or lamp that flashes regularly and can make moving objects look like they're not moving or like they're moving very slowly. Strobe lights are good for dance parties. If the object you're looking at using a strobe is moving at the same frequency as the strobe is flashing, the object appears completely motionless. Scientists use strobes to study the way things oscillate, vibrate, or rotate. Nightclubs use strobes to make dancers appear as though they're moving in slow motion, and car mechanics use them to improve a car engine's efficiency by measuring its rotation. The Greek root strobos means "a twisting."
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.
There was a rock band, strobe lights, and a juggler.
From Slate • Dec. 23, 2025
The flash of a digital camera went off like a strobe as Yair Lopez documented his friends before their night at an afterparty.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2025
A splash of synth violins and drums follows, as red lights strobe over the fans gathered at Delhi's Indira Gandhi Arena stadium.
From BBC • Aug. 2, 2025
A blurry shot of Club F—, the space dense with bodies under the strobe lights.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2024
Green dots strobe across Jutta’s vision; she feels as if she has been staring at the sun.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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.
