Meaning & use
backlight
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
Light placed behind a screen, panel or subject, so that it shines through or around it.
Grammar: Countable for a device or lamp: a backlight; also used without an article for the effect.
Patterns
- turn the backlight on
- a backlight for something
The phone's backlight fades when you stop touching the screen.
A strong backlight made the subject look like a silhouette.
The keyboard has a blue backlight for typing in the dark.
verbtransitive
To light something from behind, as in photography, theater or a display.
Grammar: Takes an object: backlight the model.
Patterns
- backlight something
- backlight someone with something
The photographer decided to backlight the model with the setting sun.
Designers backlight the sign so it can be read at night.
They backlit the stage to create a dramatic mood.
Word forms
| plural | backlights |
|---|---|
| third person singular | backlights |
| past tense | backlit |
| past participle | backlit |
| -ing form | backlighting |
Common combinations
- turn on the backlight
- Turn on the backlight if you can't read the display.
- LED backlight
- The TV uses an LED backlight.
- screen backlight
- A dim screen backlight saves battery.
- backlight a subject
- She chose to backlight the subject at sunset.
- adjust the backlight
- You can adjust the backlight in the settings.
Synonyms and how they differ
- backlighting
- Backlighting is the process or effect of lighting from behind, while backlight is more often the lamp or panel itself.
- illuminate
- Illuminate means to light up in any direction, while backlight says the light comes from behind.
- highlight
- Highlight means to emphasize or to add bright detail, not specifically to light from behind.
- silhouette
- Silhouette is the dark outline that backlighting often produces, not the light itself.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: backlight or backlit?
backlight vs backlit
Backlit is the adjective or past form meaning lit from behind. Backlight is the noun or base verb.
Practice
The photographer asked the model to stand with the sun behind her to ___ her and create a glowing outline.
Choose one answer.
To backlight is to light a subject from behind. Highlight and spotlight mean to emphasize or focus on something and do not specify light from behind.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “backlight”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.