Word.ws English Dictionary

film

/fɪlm/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Ireland[ˈfɪlm̩]

film noun: a thin layer of some substance; a pellicle; a membranous covering, causing opacity.

film: a thin layer of some substance; a pellicle; a membranous covering, causing opacity
Image: El Grafo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

film (countable and uncountable, plural films)

  1. A thin layer of some substance; a pellicle; a membranous covering, causing opacity.
    • a clear plastic film for wrapping food
    • He from thick films ſhall purge the viſual ray, / And on the ſightleſs eye-ball pour the day: […]1712 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Messiah. A Sacred Eclogue, in Imitation of Virgil’s Pollio.”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton, H....
  2. A medium used to capture images in a camera.
  3. (countable) The sequence of still images itself, which produces a moving image when played; a movie.
    Synonyms:
    movie
  4. (uncountable) A visual art form that consists of a sequence of still images preserved on a recording medium to give the illusion of motion; movies generally.
    • Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief...2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions, volume 5, number 1, MDPI, →DOI, pages 219–257
  5. A professionally made movie of a substantial narrative work, around 1 to 3 hours long; a feature film; a cinematic movie.
  6. A slender thread, such as that of a cobweb.
    • Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

Verb

film (third-person singular simple present films, present participle filming, simple past and past participle filmed)

  1. (ambitransitive) To record (activity, or a motion picture) on photographic film.
    • A Hollywood studio was filming on location in NYC.
    • I tried to film the UFO as it passed overhead.
  2. (ambitransitive) To visually record (activity, or a motion picture) in general, with or without sound.
  3. (transitive) To cover or become covered with a thin skin or pellicle.
    • It will but skin and film the ulcerous place.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • Her legs folded under her, and her eyes filmed over.2012, Nathan Archer, Valhalla

film meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

film in Hindi

thin layer
झिल्ली jhillī
photographic film
फ़िल्म, पिक्चर pikcar, मूवी mūvī, सिनेमा sinemā, चलचित्र calcitra, चित्रपट citrapaṭ
to record a motion picture
फ़िल्माना filmānā

film in Tamil

படச்சுருள், திரைப்படம்

film in Marathi

thin layer
पटल paṭal
photographic film
फिल्म philma

film in Urdu

film, movie
فلم
More languagesFewer languages
film in Bengali
ফিল্ম philm, চলচ্চিত্র coloccitro, ছায়াছবি chaẏachbi, ছবি chobi
film in Telugu
సినిమా sinimā, చిత్రము citramu
film in Malayalam
ചലച്ചിത്രം
film in Kannada
ಪರೆ, ಹರೆ, ತೋಲೆ, ಛಾಯಾಚಿತ್ರ ಕಾಗದ
film in Punjabi
ਫ਼ਿਲਮ filam
film in Gujarati
ચિત્રપટ પટ્ટી પળ ચિત્રપટ ઉતારવું citrapaṭ paṭṭī paḷ citrapaṭ utārvũ
film in Odia
ଚଳଚ୍ଚିତ୍ର, ଫିଲ୍ମ
film in Nepali
चलचित्र, फिल्म, चलचित्रको
film in Tagalog
panginag
film in Arabic
غِطَايَة ḡiṭāya, غشاوة ḡašāwa, فِلْم, فيلم felm
film in Malay
selaput, filem
film in Persian
توژ tuž, فیلْم
film in Thai
ฟิล์ม fim, ถ่ายภาพยนตร์
film in Vietnamese
màng mỏng, màng, ghi hình, quay phim

Examples of film in a sentence

  • Eyes Wide Shut was the last film to be directed by Stanley Kubrick.
  • From the frontmost car of the subway, he filmed the progress through the tunnel.
  • He's been afraid of bed since he saw the scary film.

All 40 example sentences with film

Synonyms of film

Forms of film

Noun
pluralfilms
Verb
third-person singular presentfilms
present participlefilming
past participlefilmed
pastfilmed

Past tense of film: filmed

Plural of film: films

Origin of film

From Middle English filme, from Old English filmen (“film, membrane, thin skin, foreskin”), from Proto-West Germanic *filmīn-, from Proto-Germanic *filmīn- (“thin skin, membrane”) (compare Proto-Germanic *felma- (“skin, hide”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pél-mo- (“membrane”), from *pel- (“to cover, skin”). Cognate with Old Frisian filmene (“thin skin, human skin”), Middle Dutch velm, vilm (“fleece, film, membrane”), Old High German felm (“peel, skin, wrap”), Old English *felma (in ǣġerfelma (“egg membrane”)). Related also to Dutch vel (“sheet, skin”), German Fell (“skin, hide, fur”), Swedish fjäll (“fur blanket, cloth, scale”), Norwegian fille (“rag, cloth”), Lithuanian plėvē (“membrane, scab”), Russian плева́ (plevá, “membrane”), Ancient Greek πέλμα (pélma, “sole of the foot”). More at fell. Sense of a thin coat of something is 1577, extended by 1845 to the coating of chemical gel on photographic plates. By 1895 this also meant the coating plus the paper or celluloid.

Words formed from film

Phrases with film

63 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with film

Questions about film

What does film mean?
Film means a thin layer of some substance; a pellicle; a membranous covering, causing opacity.
What is film in Hindi?
Film in Hindi is झिल्ली (jhillī), फ़िल्म, पिक्चर (pikcar). See Film meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is film?
Film can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce film?
Film is pronounced /fɪlm/.
What is the plural of film?
The plural of film is films.

Words near film in the dictionary

  1. fillup
  2. fillups
  3. filly
  4. fillér
  5. fillérs
  6. film
  7. film at 11
  8. film at eleven
  9. film badge
  10. film badge holder
  11. film badge holders

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: film (page history and authors); film (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); فلم (Urdu) (page history and authors); চলচ্চিত্র (Bengali) (page history and authors); చిత్రము (Telugu) (page history and authors); film (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); film (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਫ਼ਿਲਮ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); film (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); film (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-film.wav.

Cite this entry: “film.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/film. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.