high-definition television
3
3.2
- noun
- /haɪˌdɛfɪˈnɪʃən ˌtɛlɪˈvɪʒən/
- Specialized
:
televisión de alta definición
- Ian Boyd, a 22-year-old New Yorker, treated himself to a 46-inch high-definition television for $1,300.
- high-definition television (HDTV)
- Digital high-definition television
- high-definition television technology
Examples
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It measures the relative consumption of mass entertainment and local culture by computing the "culture/HDTV" ratio: the percentage of persons reporting attendance at local cultural events divided by the percentage of households that had a high-definition television receiver.
Blog text (29) -
In each of these cities, about a third as many households have attended cultural events as own a high-definition television.
Blog text (29) -
In these cities, the ratio of households attending cultural events to those owning a high-definition television is less than one in four.
Blog text (29) -
Overall, Americans are much more likely to report that they own a high-definition television than attend cultural events, such as theater, concerts, and museum exhibits.
Blog text (29) -
Ratio of persons who reported attending a cultural event in the past year to the number of households with high-definition televisions, 2007.
Blog text (29) -
Motion picture film can be scanned at very high data rates with specially designed linear sensors, and the resulting digital images can be displayed on high-definition television.
Academic text (1992) -
The latest movie was so vivid on the high-definition television that it felt like I was in the middle of the action.
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We enjoyed watching the football match in stunning clarity on our new high-definition television.
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After upgrading to a high-definition television, the colors and details of the shows were much more impressive.
Synonyms
12
3.5
A television that shows much clearer, more detailed pictures than older TVs
How Clear
Surface Forms
Morphology
high-definition + television
The meaning 'a television with higher resolution and greater picture clarity' is directly and compositionally derived from 'high' (greater) + 'definition' (level of detail/clarity) + 'television' (TV). This descriptive compound pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows ordinary semantic combination, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
High-definition television comes from the idea of a television that shows a much more detailed picture: high means 'more' and definition means 'how clear or detailed the image is'. So the name tells us that this kind of TV shows a sharper, more detailed picture than older sets.