sprite

noun

ˈsprīt 

plural sprites

1

a

: elf, fairy

b

: an elfish person

2

a

: a disembodied spirit : ghost

b

archaic : soul

3

: a form of electrical discharge that sometimes is emitted upwards from the top of a cumulonimbus cloud during a thunderstorm at the same time that lightning strikes downward and that usually appears as a red or reddish-orange flash of light

The length of time a sprite glows in the atmosphere is less than a second.

—Jordyn Jenna

4

: a bitmapped image or repeating loop of images that can move independently on a display often on top of a static background

Sprites are complex mathematically constructed models, sometimes simple (such as a computer cursor) and sometimes more complex, perhaps even humanoid in appearance.

—Stewart Fist

While the main character and enemy sprites in this … shooter are unusually large and detailed for the era, what really makes this game stand out are the highly detailed backgrounds that stand toe-to-toe with better-known NES games.

—Chris Freiberg

Gaming has grown from an eight-bit industry with sprites dancing across the cathode ray tube televisions of the '80s and '90s into a $180 billion global juggernaut with an audience that is larger than sports, movies and music combined.

—Andy Brownfield

Synonyms of sprite

• fairy
• elf
• dwarf
• goblin

Examples of sprite in a Sentence

the child insisted that he'd seen a sprite hiding in the garden

told hair-raising stories of sprites and spectral ships

Recent Examples on the Web

Seasonal sprites flit and flutter, providing transitional scenes, hinting at mystical elements whizzing all around within this otherwise very human plot. —Lauren Warnecke, Chicago Tribune, 5 June 2026

Since the Neo Geo’s scaling hardware can efficiently stretch those sprites vertically without much overhead, the raycasting data can be quickly converted into a chunky approximation of a first-person view. —Kyle Orland, ArsTechnica, 2 June 2026

Miles Robinson and Mark McKenzie are likely to be more sprite. —Michael Lewis, Forbes.com, 31 May 2026

This livestream is well worth a watch, with active chat users often sharing timestamps of meteor sightings and occasionally rarer phenomena like atmospheric sprites! —Daisy Dobrijevic, Space.com, 21 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English sprit, from Anglo-French espriz, espirit spirit, sprite — more at spirit

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Phrases Containing sprite

• water sprite

Rhymes for sprite

• bight
• bite
• blight
• byte
• cite
• dight
• fight
• fite
• flight
• fright
• height
• hight

Kids Definition

sprite

noun

ˈsprīt 

: elf, fairy