screensaver
/ˈskɹiːnˌseɪ.və(ɹ)/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.55 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A computer program that displays aesthetic patterns or images when the computer is not being used, originally intended to prevent screenburn.
noun
The background picture of a computer, smartphone, or similar mobile device.
Example Sentences
- "I configured my screensaver to appear after only two minutes, because I enjoyed watching it so much."
- "But she changed her screensaver, which was a photo of Julian eating scrambled eggs—he was smiling, holding his fork away from himself, as if he were waving the eggs at her—and replaced it with a photo of Olivia, looking up from her desk […]"
- "If he wanted praise, or sympathy, or the chance to talk over a sensitive subject, he turned to me. A friend told me that she sat down at her computer one day to discover that her husband had changed her screensaver to read: “Be nice to Lloyd."
- "You can tell a lot about a person by the desk they keep. Her real name was Mary Stachowicz but we decided to call her Jenny Talia. It's funnier for us. She uses bulldog clips, which I think is a bit lesbiany, but I guess it's right for the character. Her screensaver is a picture of Cher, not the actual Cher, but her mother in fancy dress."
- "While we waited for Zac to be taken into surgery, I thought of all of his suffering up to this point […] It brought to mind the screensaver that Zac, a few months earlier, had changed his Ipod to."
- "When I arrived at the lab this morning he was back sitting in front of his computer, a million miles away, leaning forward on his elbows and staring into the depths of space. He has changed his screensaver again. The Orion nebula has been replaced with some other astronomical scape, far bleaker in its appearance but more realistic. It looks like the outermost edge of the universe."
Etymology
Etymology tree English screen Proto-Indo-European *solh₂-der. Proto-Italic *salawos Latin salvus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin salvō Latin salvāre Old French sauverbor. Middle English saven English save Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English saver English screensaver From screen + saver.