Denoise

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Eliminate unwanted background sounds or visual static from audio or image data
2. Reduce or erase interference in sound recordings or digital photographs to improve clarity
3. Process a signal or picture to get rid of distracting noise or graininess

Etymology: "Denoise" is a plain formation: the prefix "de-", meaning "reversing or removing", attached to "noise". Put together, it describes taking the unwanted sound out of a signal. The "noise" half comes from Old French "noise" (quarrel, outcry), which in turn descends from Latin "nausea", a word for seasickness that came to mean the din and disturbance of a crowd. The prefix does most of the work here. "De-" has long been used to undo or strip something away, as in "defrost" or "decaffeinate", and "denoise" applies that same pattern to the hiss and static that clutter recordings and images. The word is a recent technical coinage built from familiar parts rather than an older term with a changed sense.

Synonyms: remove noise, filter noise, clean, deinterference, clarify

Antonyms: noise, disturb, corrupt, pollute