greeble
Syllables: gree·ble/ˈɡɹiːbliː/
greeble noun: a small piece of detailing added to break up the surface of an object and add visual interest, particularly in movie special effects.
Noun
greeble (plural greebles)
- A small piece of detailing added to break up the surface of an object and add visual interest, particularly in movie special effects.
- Synonyms:
- nurnie
- Any of a set of invented novel objects used as stimuli in psychological studies of object and face recognition.
- Because, compared to other objects, face recognition seems to be especially sensitive to stimulus orientation, Gauthier had subjects perform a matching task with upright or inverted faces and greebles in the scanner, hypothesizing that greeble expertise would be specific to viewing them in the...2005, Hugh W. Catts, Alan G. Kamhi, The Connections Between Language and Reading Disabilities, page 93
- (informal, whimsical) An imaginary or invisible creature, such as a bug or spirit, that a cat or other pet is perceived to be chasing or reacting to, often characterized by sudden, frantic movements as if hunting something unseen.
Verb
greeble (third-person singular simple present greebles, present participle greebling, simple past and past participle greebled)
- To add greebles to a surface.
- We're going to greeble the surface of the model to give it a more convincing look.
Synonyms of greeble
Forms of greeble
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | greebles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | greebles |
| present participle | greebling |
| past participle | greebled |
| past | greebled |
Origin of greeble
* A neologism that was originally coined and used by the prop-makers from Industrial Light & Magic while working on production of the original Star Wars film. * The objects in psychology were named by the American psychologist Robert Abelson.
Questions about greeble
- What does greeble mean?
- Greeble means a small piece of detailing added to break up the surface of an object and add visual interest, particularly in movie special effects.
- What part of speech is greeble?
- Greeble can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce greeble?
- Greeble is pronounced /ˈɡɹiːbliː/.
- What is the plural of greeble?
- The plural of greeble is greebles.
Words near greeble in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: greeble (page history and authors). 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: En-us-greeble.ogg.
Cite this entry: “greeble.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/greeble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.