Posterise

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Reduces the number of colours or tones in a photograph or image so it looks flat, like a printed poster
2. Simplifies a picture by cutting its shades into a few distinct bands, giving it a bold, graphic appearance
3. Converts a smooth, continuous-tone image into blocks of uniform colour, producing a stylised, flat effect

Etymology: Posterise is a modern formation, built from "poster" and the verb-forming suffix "-ise." The "poster" part is itself an English word that came in through Old French "poster" and the Latin "postis," meaning a doorpost or a post set upright, so the noun's original idea was simply something fixed in place and displayed. The suffix traces back through Ancient Greek "-izein," which came into Latin as "-izare" and then passed into Middle French and Middle English, where it became the common English "-ise" or "-ize" used to make verbs. Put together, "posterise" means to turn an image into a poster-like picture, usually by reducing it to a few flat areas of solid colour. Photographers and graphic designers adopted the term for this effect, which sits neatly on top of the noun it comes from.

Synonyms: posterize