Meaning & use
time-lapse
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Describing a film or photo technique that plays many slow shots quickly so that slow changes look fast.
Grammar: Comes before the noun it describes: a time-lapse film. It is not usually used after a verb.
Patterns
- time-lapse video
- time-lapse photography
- a time-lapse sequence of something
The documentary opens with a time-lapse shot of the city at night.
She made a time-lapse video of the flowers opening over three days.
Time-lapse photography showed the glacier moving back over ten years.
nouncountable
A film or set of photos made by taking pictures at long intervals and playing them fast.
Grammar: Countable: one time-lapse, two time-lapses; often written as two words in this use.
Patterns
- make a time-lapse
- watch a time-lapse of something
He posted a time-lapse of the sunset on his channel.
The museum shows a time-lapse of the building being constructed.
Word forms
| plural | time-lapses |
|---|
Common combinations
- time-lapse photography
- Time-lapse photography makes clouds race across the sky.
- a time-lapse video
- They uploaded a time-lapse video of the whole journey.
- shoot something in time-lapse
- The crew shot the eclipse in time-lapse.
- a time-lapse sequence
- The film ends with a time-lapse sequence of the seasons changing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stop-motion
- Stop-motion also uses many single frames, but it moves objects by hand between shots rather than filming a real scene slowly.
Opposites
Word family
- time lapse noun
- The two-word spelling, used mainly when the word stands alone.
Commonly confused: time-lapse or time-lapsed?
time-lapse vs time-lapsed
'Time-lapsed' is rarely used; learners usually mean the adjective 'time-lapse'.
Practice
Which sentence uses the word correctly?
Choose one answer.
'In time-lapse' is the fixed phrase for this technique. The other forms do not exist in this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “time-lapse”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.