cursor

noun

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cur·sor | \ ˈkər-sər

, -ˌsȯr \

Definition of cursor

: a movable item used to mark a position: such as

a : a transparent slide with a line attached to a slide rule

b : a visual cue (such as a flashing vertical line) on a video display that indicates position (as for data entry)

Examples of cursor in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Polling rates measure how often your mouse tells your PC when its cursor is located onscreen. — Brad Chacos, PCWorld, "Razer's Viper 8K escalates the war for ultimate gaming mouse responsiveness," 28 Jan. 2021 When you're logged into Netflix in your web browser, hover the mouse cursor over your user avatar (top left), and then go to Manage Profiles. — David Nield, Wired, "Share Streaming Accounts? Set Up Separate User Profiles," 17 Jan. 2021 At the highest levels, most players are extraordinarily proficient at the simple act of moving the cursor — with exceptional speed — to the opponent’s shape and clicking to fire. — Washington Post, "G2 were the kings of ‘Valorant’ in Europe. What happened?," 28 Dec. 2020 Some mice offer the ability to increase or decrease tracking sensitivity, as well, so your cursor will move slower or faster across the screen. — Whitson Gordon, NBC News, "Best mouse 2020: 5 best mice for gaming, working and more," 10 Dec. 2020 The webOS platform uses a fun on-screen cursor, and this one's kitted out to be a major upgrade to most TVs. — Tj Donegan, USA TODAY, "The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday TV deals you can still get on LG, Sony, Samsung, TCL and more," 29 Nov. 2020 But after a few weeks of work, both patients could use an eye tracker to move a cursor and then click with a thought, using the implant. — Adam Rogers, Wired, "A New Way to Plug a Human Brain into a Computer: via Veins," 29 Oct. 2020 His new aircraft is advanced enough that the pilot can use a cursor on a screen to tell the plane where to go. — Rob Verger, Popular Science, "Explore the gauges, levers, and history of a 747′s iconic cockpit," 19 Sep. 2019 On my own screen was the ever-faithful blank document, its cursor drumming, reminding me of my inability to produce, my failure to do my job that day. — Stephanie Land, Longreads, "Grieving, but Calmed by a Different Kind of Storm," 24 Apr. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cursor.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for cursor

borrowed from Latin cursor "runner, courier," from currere "to run" + -tor, agent suffix — more at current entry 1

Note: For cursor as agent noun of currere in place of expected *co(r)stor see note at course entry 1. As with other Latin deverbal derivatives, the zero grade ablaut of the past participle has been generalized with all suffixes ending in -t-.

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