filter
noun
fil·ter
| \ ˈfil-tər
\
\
Definition of filter
(Entry 1 of 2)
1a
: a porous article or mass (as of paper or sand) through which a gas or liquid is passed to separate out matter in suspension
b
: an apparatus containing a filter medium
2a
: a device or material for suppressing or minimizing waves or oscillations of certain frequencies (as of electricity, light, or sound)
b
: a transparent material (such as colored glass) that absorbs light of certain wavelengths or colors selectively and is used for modifying light that reaches a sensitized photographic material
— called also color filter
3
: something that has the effect of a filter (as by holding back elements or modifying the appearance of something)
his work is too often viewed through the filter of race— Brent Staples
4
: software for sorting or blocking access to certain online material
filter
verb
filtered;
filtering\ ˈfil-t(ə-)riŋ
\
\
Definition of filter (Entry 2 of 2)
1
: to pass or move through or as if through a filter
2
: to come or go in small units over a period of time
people began filtering in
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Examples of filter in a Sentence
Noun
She smokes cigarettes with filters. He placed a red filter on the camera lens. digital filters that stop high-frequency soundsVerb
They've begun filtering their water to remove impurities. a device that filters impurities from water sunglasses that filter ultraviolet light Sunlight filtered through the leaves. His ideas have filtered down to his children. The crowd filtered into the arena. Early election returns have begun to filter in.
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
The color is desaturated and full of contrast, cast in an eerie turquoise pall, as if through a murky Instagram filter. — Katie Walsh, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: ‘Ready or Not’ sacrifices horror for irony and laughs to skewer the 1 percent," 22 Aug. 2019 The color is desaturated and full of contrast, cast in an eerie turquoise pall, as if through a murky Instagram filter. — Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, "1-percenter slasher flick ‘Ready or Not’ too sardonic to be taken seriously as satire," 20 Aug. 2019 The color is desaturated and full of contrast, cast in an eerie turquoise pall, as if through a murky Instagram filter. — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, "Review: ‘Ready or Not’ sacrifices horror for irony and laughs to skewer the 1 percent," 19 Aug. 2019 But there’s so much more than H2O in that small plastic bottle. Dr. Stoeckle pours the fluid through a special filter atop a glass contraption that looks a bit like a pour-over coffee maker. — Amanda Paulson, The Christian Science Monitor, "Message in a bottle: Forensics meets marine science with eDNA," 15 Aug. 2019 This year’s MLB Players’ Weekend jerseys will show the world through a black and white filter. — Paul Lukas, SI.com, "Welcome to the Uni-Verse: Explore the World of Athletics Aesthetics with Uni Watch," 13 Aug. 2019 Yellow filters on my lenses and dive mask block the stimulating blue light, enabling me to see and capture the full extent of the psychedelic spectacle. — Smithsonian, "Amazing Photos Reveal the Hidden Light of Undersea Life," 25 July 2019 The light filters through the streets like a stream through reeds. — Anne Farrar, National Geographic, "Here’s why everyone is going to Portugal now," 18 June 2019 Favorite Instagram filters: Clarendon, Valencia, X-Pro II. — WSJ, "Busy Philipps Reveals What’s on Her iPhone," 10 Oct. 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
The study also highlights the limitations of machine learning as a tool to filter and screen content. — Jonathan Vanian, Fortune, "Google’s Hate Speech Detection A.I. Has a Racial Bias Problem," 16 Aug. 2019 Neuralink's chip is designed to take the raw input from its electrodes, filter out some of the noise, and then identify the spikes. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Elon Musk’s Neuralink: Both an evolution and a plan for radical change," 13 Aug. 2019 So the following is an attempt to filter all of the latest information together and funnel it into what's true, what's not, who to believe and what to forget about. — SI.com, "Man Utd Transfers: The Latest on Paulo Dybala, Romelu Lukaku & Harry Maguire," 31 July 2019 The tank water, gotten mostly from deep wells, is filtered as in an aquarium and can be constantly reused. — Anchorage Daily News, "Local fishery taxes will continue to be split 50-50 between towns and state for now," 9 July 2019 The major proposal is to swap regular asphalt for porous pavement, which is designed to allow water to filter through the road and into the ground. — Alex Harris And Joey Flechas, miamiherald, "This Miami street could be the blueprint for how the city handles sea level rise," 28 June 2018 Street of Dreams tour goers will see that landscape designers installed sloping bioswales to filter surface runoff. — oregonlive.com, "2019 Street of Dreams invites you to dream big in Wilsonville," 27 July 2019 One myth holds that’s a way to filter out impurities in the drug. — Shari Rudavsky, Indianapolis Star, "7 things to look for in a teen's bedroom that can tell you he or she is doing drugs," 22 July 2019 Those disposable filters use something called ion exchange resin to filter out copper, cadmium and zinc. — Dan Sweeney, sun-sentinel.com, "Why do we have to boil water anyway?," 19 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'filter.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for filter
filter
noun
English Language Learners Definition of filter
(Entry 1 of 2)
: a device that is used to remove something unwanted from a liquid or gas that passes through it
: a device that prevents some kinds of light, sound, electronic noises, etc., from passing through
computers
: software that prevents someone from looking at or receiving particular kinds of material through the Internet
filter
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of filter (Entry 2 of 2)
: to pass (something, such as a gas or liquid) through a filter to remove something unwanted
: to remove (something unwanted) by using a filter
: to move through or into something in small amounts or in a gradual way
See the full definition for filter in the English Language Learners Dictionary
filter
noun
fil·ter
| \ ˈfil-tər
\
\
Kids Definition of filter
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: