blue screen

noun

plural blue screens

1

: a photographic technique in which a subject is filmed in front of a blue background so as to allow matte (see matte entry 3 sense 2) compositing of the film with other footage

also : the blue background compare green screen

2

: blue screen of death

Many blue screens are caused by bad memory modules or corrupted disk drives.

—George Cox

Examples of blue screen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The two lone wolves traverse a wasteland of vast canyons, derelict cityscapes and blazing oil fields, digitally rendered on blue screens. —J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 7 Mar. 2025

This was combined with blue screen techniques to separate each pass, with each one then printed onto film. —Benny Har-Even, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025

Erivo extensively rehearsed the flying portion, which was shot using wires and against a blue screen. —Daron James, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2025

In addition to causing shut-offs and restart loops, a faulty power supply can also cause a blue screen of death error. —Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 21 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for blue screen

• agin
• alkene
• allene
• ameen
• amin
• amine
• arene
• athene
• baleen
• beeline
• benzene
• between