half-tone
half-tone — noun
1. a way of printing or copying a picture with tiny dots so it seems to have smooth
a way of printing or copying a picture with tiny dots so it seems to have smooth changes of grey or colour, or the picture made in that way.
The newspaper used a half-tone to print the mayor's portrait cheaply.
use a half-tone to reproduce a printed picture
Karim showed the class how tiny dots build a half-tone image.
half-tone image formed by tiny dots
The art book reproduced the drawing as a half-tone on rough paper.
Diya compared the smooth painting with the half-tone in the magazine.
- screened image
focuses more on the printed result than on the process
- photoengraving
an older printing term, especially in traditional press work
- raster image
a digital graphics term; broader than half-tone
文法句型
print as a half-tone
a half-tone image
用法筆記
Common in printing, newspaper, and design talk. It can name either the dot-screen process itself or the printed picture that process creates.
2. the band of grey shades that lies between pure black and pure white in a photogr
the band of grey shades that lies between pure black and pure white in a photograph or similar image.
Hugo adjusted the photo so the half-tone between the clouds looked smoother.
half-tone showing visible grey shading in a photo
The old poster still showed half-tone between the singer's black coat and white shirt.
Yumi noticed that the cheap copy had lost the half-tone around the hills.
The scanner preserved the half-tone in the snow on the stone steps.
- grey scale
the broader system of grey values, not just one picture's visible band
- midtones
only the middle greys, not the full dark-to-light range
文法句型
see the half-tone in [image]
lose the half-tone
用法筆記
Used when talking about visible shading inside a photo or similar image. Distinguish from sense 1: sense 2 names the grey range you can see, while sense 1 names the dot-based process or printed result.
3. the shortest move from one note to the next in Western music; a semitone.
the shortest move from one note to the next in Western music; a semitone.
The piano student moved up a half-tone to the next black key.
move up a half-tone in a scale
Benjamin sang the last note a half-tone too high.
The teacher asked Hui to lower the note by a half-tone.
In that sad song, the chorus rises only a half-tone.
- whole tone
an interval twice as large as a half-tone
文法句型
up a half-tone
down a half-tone
用法筆記
Used mainly in music lessons and theory. British and American writers also use 'semitone'; in many teaching contexts, the two names refer to the same interval.