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Glite Dictionary
🎬 Movie film 🎭 Fake or shallow
celluloid

celluloid

8 8.1
The movies or film industry, especially old films
  • noun
  • /ˈsɛljʊˌlɔɪd/
  • Archaic
translation icon : celuloide
  • As The Celluloid Closet demonstrates, such send-ups can be traced all the way back to silent movies.
  • celluloid film
  • images on celluloid

Examples

  • Many filmmakers still prefer using celluloid film for its unique texture and rich colors.

  • I have a few good years, then my youth will be frozen on celluloid for TV movies.

    Interiors (1978)

  • This year's lifetime achievement award winner's credits include some of the greatest moments on celluloid.

    Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994)

  • There is something about the mutuality of movie taste, shared celluloid pleasure, that cements like nothing else.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Animation techniques, such as celluloid and stop-motion, were among the first animation techniques incorporated into motion pictures.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The documentary highlighted the beauty of classic films shot on celluloid, capturing moments long gone.

  • In the history of cinema, celluloid has played a pivotal role in shaping the movie industry.

Synonyms

film
vscelluloid
∞ 1.0

A story shown as moving images in a cinema or on screen

also names an old transparent material and the industry
cinema
vscelluloid
99 1.1

The art of making and showing films

also names an old transparent material and the industry term

How Flammable

celluloid
  • Archaic
8 8.1
cellulose triacetate
  • Specialized
8.9

Surface Forms

celluloid singular
celluloids plural

Morphology

celluloid = cellulose (semi-transparent) = cellulose + oid

Formed from the material 'cellulose' with the suffix '-oid' indicating a substance related to or derived from cellulose; the technical nature of the components makes the relation only partly clear to average learners.

Etymology

Celluloid comes from cellulose, the plant material that was turned into an early plastic film, plus the ending -oid meaning 'like'. Because this thin, clear plastic was used to make movie film, celluloid came to mean the material itself and, by extension, 'the movies' or the film industry.