on-screen

adverb or adjective

variants or onscreen
1
: in a movie or a television program
But the makers of the 1958 movie understood that this most subtle of writers was telling a tale about the froth of life, and they celebrated it on-screen with gusto.Gerald Asher
The sixth-grader reportedly earned $1 million for starring in the upcoming My Girl, which pairs him with Anna Chlumsky for his first onscreen kiss.Alexander Tresniowski
2
: on a computer or television screen
You can watch a football game, see a small icon onscreen offering player statistics, click it with the remote, and view the stats.Edward W. Desmond
… handheld joysticks and gamepads that jolt and jar with the on-screen action.Leigh Gallagher

Examples of on-screen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
That doesn’t go according to plan, and chaos ensues as Gracie tackles Cheryl for the crown in the iconic on-screen moment. Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 3 Sep. 2026 King and Burleson stand as strong journalists and winning on-screen personalities, but O’Donnell brings a set of hard-news credentials that are hard to match. Brian Steinberg, Variety, 3 Sep. 2026 As the car turns or changes speed, the on-screen cues move along with that motion. Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 3 Sep. 2026 Dictation tools have been around for decades, and largely been commoditized to the point that your iPhone or Android device's on-screen keyboard app ships with a free one. Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 2 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for on-screen

Word History

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of on-screen was in 1929

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“On-screen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/on-screen. Accessed 7 Sep. 2026.

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