on-screen

adverb or adjective

variants or onscreen
1
: in a movie or a television program
But the makers of the 1958 movie understood that this most subtle of writers was telling a tale about the froth of life, and they celebrated it on-screen with gusto.Gerald Asher
The sixth-grader reportedly earned $1 million for starring in the upcoming My Girl, which pairs him with Anna Chlumsky for his first onscreen kiss.Alexander Tresniowski
2
: on a computer or television screen
You can watch a football game, see a small icon onscreen offering player statistics, click it with the remote, and view the stats.Edward W. Desmond
… handheld joysticks and gamepads that jolt and jar with the on-screen action.Leigh Gallagher

Examples of on-screen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The operating system supported the hardware and the demands of the on-screen bitmapped display, which could handle true proportional text. Cameron Kaiser, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025 The actors reportedly became close friends off-screen, which translated into the effortless banter and playful pranks on-screen. Marc Berman, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025 The new Siri will be able to better fulfill queries by tapping into the open web, on-screen content and a user’s data. Bloomberg, Mercury News, 9 Sep. 2025 Hatcher's real-life daughter, Emerson Tenney, and her on-screen daughter from Desperate Housewives, Andrea Bowen, are her cohosts. Brendan Le, PEOPLE, 9 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for on-screen

Word History

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of on-screen was in 1929

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Cite this Entry

“On-screen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/on-screen. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.

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