Word.ws English Dictionary

opsign

/ˈɒpˌsaɪn/

opsign noun: particularly in Gilles Deleuze's cinematic philosophy, a pure optical image that exists independently of any immediate action or narrative progression. Deleuze introduced this concept to describe moments in cinema where the visual element stands alone, detached from the traditional cause-and-effect structure of storytelling.

Noun

opsign (plural opsigns)

  1. (film theory) Particularly in Gilles Deleuze's cinematic philosophy, a pure optical image that exists independently of any immediate action or narrative progression. Deleuze introduced this concept to describe moments in cinema where the visual element stands alone, detached from the traditional cause-and-effect structure of storytelling.
    • Opsigns and sonsigns are direct presentation of time.2009 July, Irini Stamatopoulos, “Time as visualized by the cinematic medium”, in offscreen, volume 13, number 7
    • By presenting purely optical and sound situations in which no action is involved, opsigns and sonsigns place time at the centre of the cinematic image.2015 November 10, Marcello Garibbo, “Deleuze’s Philosophy of Cinema: Reflections on Subjectivity, Images, and Visual Artworks”, in THE DARK PRECURSOR International Conference on Deleuze and Artistic...

Forms of opsign

pluralopsigns

Origin of opsign

Blend of Greek ὄψις (ópsis) + sign

Questions about opsign

What does opsign mean?
Opsign means particularly in Gilles Deleuze's cinematic philosophy, a pure optical image that exists independently of any immediate action or narrative progression. Deleuze introduced this concept to describe moments in cinema where the visual element stands alone, detached from the traditional cause-and-effect structure of storytelling.
What part of speech is opsign?
Opsign is a noun.
How do you pronounce opsign?
Opsign is pronounced /ˈɒpˌsaɪn/.
What is the plural of opsign?
The plural of opsign is opsigns.

Words near opsign in the dictionary

  1. OPSEU
  2. opsiblastic
  3. Opsician
  4. Opsicians
  5. opsigamy
  6. opsign
  7. opsigns
  8. Opsikion
  9. opsimath
  10. opsimathic
  11. opsimaths

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: opsign (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.

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