raster

noun

ras·ter | \ ˈra-stər

How to pronounce raster (audio)

\

Definition of raster

: a scan pattern (as of the electron beam in a cathode-ray tube) in which an area is scanned from side to side in lines from top to bottom also : a pattern of closely spaced rows of dots that form an image (as on the cathode-ray tube of a television or computer display)

Examples of raster in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Essentially, in rasterization, the camera represents a raster pixel grid (hence, rasterization). — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, "Raytracing explained: Nvidia, Microsoft lead the way in revolutionizing gaming graphics," 20 Aug. 2018 Essentially, in rasterization, the camera represents a raster pixel grid (hence, rasterization). — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, "Raytracing explained: Nvidia, Microsoft lead the way in revolutionizing gaming graphics," 20 Aug. 2018 Essentially, in rasterization, the camera represents a raster pixel grid (hence, rasterization). — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, "Raytracing explained: Nvidia, Microsoft lead the way in revolutionizing gaming graphics," 20 Aug. 2018 Essentially, in rasterization, the camera represents a raster pixel grid (hence, rasterization). — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, "Raytracing explained: Nvidia, Microsoft lead the way in revolutionizing gaming graphics," 20 Aug. 2018 Essentially, in rasterization, the camera represents a raster pixel grid (hence, rasterization). — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, "DirectX Raytracing is the first step toward a graphics revolution," 19 Mar. 2018 Ron Jones was developing the raster image processor for large-format graphics, and Dr. Robert Lawrence Thornton was accumulating 50 patents for lasers at PARC, a Xerox company. — John William Templeton, The Mercury News, "Opinion: Tech companies had many black executives in the 1980s; what happened?," 18 May 2017 NOAA eventually expects to phase out the raster charts, dedicating its resources instead to making the vector charts the premier nautical guide, Nyberg said. — Colin Campbell, baltimoresun.com, "Amid the rise of GPS, NOAA weighs a move away from paper charting," 5 June 2017 Hollen hand-draws his designs in a raster program, converting them to a vector, a kind of blueprint read by an outsourced laser cutter that cuts the patterns. — R. Daniel Foster, latimes.com, "Home security gets arty with nature-inspired gate and window designs," 29 June 2017

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

History and Etymology for raster

borrowed from German Raster, originally, "screen used for printing halftones," borrowed from Latin *rāster (presumed singular of rāstrī), rāstrum "hoe with two to six tines," from rādere "to scrape, scratch, pare away, shave" + -trum, suffix of instruments (going back to Indo-European *-tro-) — more at rase

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about raster

Dictionary Entries near raster

Statistics for raster

Last Updated

19 Mar 2019

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for raster

The first known use of raster was in 1934

See more words from the same year

WORD OF THE DAY

putsch

a secret plot to overthrow a government

Test Your Vocabulary

April 2019 Words of the Day Quiz

Which is a synonym of propitious?

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ