pixel

noun

pix·el | \ ˈpik-səl

, -ˌsel\

plural pixels

Definition of pixel

1 : any of the small discrete elements that together constitute an image (as on a television or digital screen) If the ball is flying from left to right across a video screen, a pixel at one fixed location on the screen will get darker and darker as time ticks on because it depicts points farther and farther to the left on the ball.— Frédo Durand et al.

2 : any of the detecting elements of a solid-state optical sensor (such as a CCD or CMOS device) The team used a new CCD detector that has an 8,192 by 8,192 pixel array, which makes it the world's largest astronomical CCD. — Astronomy the … CMOS image sensor provides a 9-µm pixel size …— Mathew Dirjish

Examples of pixel in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Your camera did not change in size or cost, but [designers] were able to pack more pixels in the same space. — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "Why millions of lasers on a chip could be the future of lidar," 8 Nov. 2018 But blowing up the 1080p resolution to a larger display will have a negative impact on the number of pixels per inch, meaning text and images will appear slightly blurrier than normal. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "Acer's Chromebook 315 pairs an AMD processor with a 15.6-inch display for as low as $279.99," 6 Jan. 2019 The secret to MicroLED is the tiny trio of diodes—red, green and blue—which make up each pixel. — David Pierce, WSJ, "This Really Is the Next Revolution in TV Technology," 8 Jan. 2019 What was happening with the Harts in real life—behind the pixels, in ordinary time? — Glamour, "Broken Harts, Episode 5: 'Owies'," 8 Jan. 2019 For this job, the company used Sensefly’s eBee Plus fixed-wing drone, which flies autonomously at speeds between 25 and 68 miles per hour, capturing images of the ground below at a resolution of 1 centimeter per pixel. — Jack Stewart, WIRED, "Airbus Combines Satellites, Planes, and Drones for a New View of the World," 3 May 2018 But in Dell’s case, the solution is more pixels and a better viewing angle. — Stefan Etienne, The Verge, "Dell unveils the first 49-inch ultra-wide monitor with QHD resolution," 15 Oct. 2018 Different solutions have since been proposed to slash the time needed for individual pixels' total dimming; in one, electric fields are rapidly applied to an LCD panel's molecules in more inventive ways. — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "Oculus Go review: The wireless-VR future begins today for only $199," 1 May 2018 Real feature detectors tend to have receptive fields much smaller than 28 pixels on a side. — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "How computers got shockingly good at recognizing images," 18 Dec. 2018

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