posterize

Verb

posterize (third-person singular simple present posterizes, present participle posterizing, simple past and past participle posterized)

1. (transitive) To inadvertently or intentionally reduce the number of colours in (a photograph or other image), changing a continuous gradation of tone to several regions of fewer tones with abrupt changes from one tone to another.
2. (Canada, US, slang, transitive) To score a slam dunk in basketball against (one or more opposing players) by leaping over them; also (by extension, sports, slang), to score a goal, a point, etc., in some other sport against (one or more opposing players) in a spectacular manner.
   • Probably, [Sam] Perkins just wanted to get out of the way and not be "posterized," which is what happens when the dunkee is humiliated by the dunker. But [Michael] Jordan thought Perkins, his college teammate, would try to block the dunk, so he switched the ball from his right to his left hand at...1991 June 7, Michael Wilbon, “Great shot! Jordan’s best amazingly goes one better”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on...
3. (intransitive) To inadvertently or intentionally reduce the number of colours in a photograph or other image, changing a continuous gradation of tone to several regions of fewer tones with abrupt changes from one tone to another.