filter
Americannoun
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filters
plural
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any substance, as cloth, paper, porous porcelain, or a layer of charcoal or sand, through which liquid or gas is passed to remove suspended impurities or to recover solids.
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any device, as a tank or tube, containing such a substance for filtering.
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any of various analogous devices, as for removing dust from air or impurities from tobacco smoke, or for eliminating certain kinds of light rays.
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something that works like a filter, as by removing, blocking, or separating out certain elements.
Kids often talk without a filter. Events can be distorted through the filter of memory.
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Informal. a filter-tipped cigarette or cigar.
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Photography.
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a lens screen of dyed gelatin or glass placed on a camera for controlling the rendering of color or for diminishing the intensity of light.
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Digital Technology. a data manipulation function that changes the color or sharpness of a digital image or overlays an additive or special effect element.
Use a sepia filter to give your photos that old-timey look.
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Electronics, Physics. a circuit or device that passes certain frequencies and blocks others.
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Mathematics. a collection of subsets of a topological space, having the properties that the intersection of two subsets in the collection is a subset in the collection and that any set containing a subset in the collection is in the collection.
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Computers. an algorithm that categorizes, sorts, prioritizes, or blocks data through rule-based protocols.
an email filter that deletes messages with subject words found commonly in spam.
verb (used with object)
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filters,
present (3rd person singular)
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filtered,
past participle, past
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filtering
present participle
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to remove by the action of a filter.
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Computers. to subject (data) to an algorithmic filter.
The search engine will filter your query results based on your location and user profile.
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to act as a filter for; to slow or partially obstruct the passage of.
The thick leaves filtered the sunlight.
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to pass through or as through a filter.
verb (used without object)
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filters,
present (3rd person singular)
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filtered,
past participle, past
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filtering
present participle
noun
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a porous substance, such as paper or sand, that allows fluid to pass but retains suspended solid particles: used to clean fluids or collect solid particles
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any device containing such a porous substance for separating suspensions from fluids
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any of various porous substances built into the mouth end of a cigarette or cigar for absorbing impurities such as tar
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any electronic, optical, or acoustic device that blocks signals or radiations of certain frequencies while allowing others to pass See also band-pass filter
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any transparent disc of gelatine or glass used to eliminate or reduce the intensity of given frequencies from the light leaving a lamp, entering a camera, etc
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a traffic signal at a road junction consisting of a green arrow which when illuminated permits vehicles to turn either left or right when the main signals are red
verb
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(often foll by out) to remove or separate (suspended particles, wavelengths of radiation, etc) from (a liquid, gas, radiation, etc) by the action of a filter
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(tr) to obtain by filtering
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to pass (through a filter or something like a filter)
dust filtered through the screen
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(intr) to flow slowly; trickle
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A material that has very tiny holes and is used to separate out solid particles contained in a liquid or gas that is passed through it.
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A device that allows signals with certain properties, such as signals lying in a certain frequency range, to pass while blocking the passage of others. For example, filters on photographic lenses allow only certain frequencies of light to enter the camera, while polarizing filters allow only light polarized along a given plane to pass. Radio tuners are filters that allow frequencies of only a narrow range to pass into an amplification circuit.
Discover More
Spam may be the target of a filter, or parents may use a filter designed to prevent their child's access to pornographic or violent Web pages.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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filterernoun
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nonfilternoun
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prefilternoun
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overfilterverb (used with object)
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refilterverb (used with object)
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unfilteringadjective
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well-filteredadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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filtersimple
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filterssimple
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have filteredperfect
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has filteredperfect
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am filteringprogressive
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are filteringprogressive
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is filteringprogressive
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have been filteringperfect progressive
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has been filteringperfect progressive
Past
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filteredsimple
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had filteredperfect
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was filteringprogressive
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were filteringprogressive
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had been filteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of filter
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English filtre, from Medieval Latin filtrum “felt, piece of felt used to strain liquids,” from Germanic; see origin at felt 2
Explanation
A machine or device that removes dangerous or unwanted materials from a substance passing through it is called a filter. A kitchen water filter makes the water safer to drink — and also taste better. Cars have many different filters, each of which takes impurities out of air, fuel, or water before it enters the car's engine. Most coffee makers require paper filters that allow brewed coffee to flow into the pot while leaving the coffee grounds behind. Filter is also a verb, meaning to strain or remove particular particles. The Medieval Latin root is filtrum, or "felt," which was used by early chemists to strain liquids, especially when purifying water.
Vocabulary lists containing filter
"The Scholarship Jacket" by Marta Salinas
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Mechanical Engineering
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Civil Engineering
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Higher prices for a barrel of oil take time to filter down to retail gas prices, but a look at the oil market’s “prompt spread” shows bigger gas bills look likely.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
“Can you add a filter for fragrance-free cars?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Kelly pulls out his phone to show me a video of a woman whose account is dedicated to sharing puzzling life advice while she appears under an extreme beauty filter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
An unusually large amount of smoke in the air from nearby forest fires acted like an additional atmospheric filter.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
Julia only texted once, to say she ate too many Reese’s Pieces and then a snap of her with a silly Halloween filter.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
In practical terms, the test confirmed that ground teams can remotely control the instrument's various systems, including movable mechanisms that position its masks, color filters, lenses, and prisms.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
Teens wouldn’t be able to use extreme makeup filters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
She and her sister both approve of hiding the numbers of likes and restricting filters.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
The platform will be required to automatically apply stricter privacy settings to accounts belonging to children under the age of 16, strengthen parental supervision systems, and implement stricter content filters.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
The spleen is a kind of bag that filters the blood, and it plays a role in the immune system.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
And instead of relying on the local soil, they would pot the plants in a material made from coconut fiber, with nutrients and filtered water provided via drip-irrigation technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Chris Lofts, the site manager, said the waste was first filtered before having water added and being fed into a digester to create methane.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Flores, whose only public comments had for months been filtered through his legal team, agreed to speak with The Times, detailing the toll that the prior year and a half had taken on him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Cross polarized light microscopy uses specially filtered light to reveal structures that may be difficult to see with ordinary microscopy.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
I take a long swig of my filtered water—Farmer and Ti Jean haven’t drunk anything yet—as we stride across a ridge through yellow grass.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
I realized I was nervous and not filtering my words very well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
It holds huge amounts of water, slowing rain as it moves downhill, reducing flooding and filtering out sediment before it reaches the reservoir.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Yet when it comes to the ways AI is filtering into Americans’ jobs, many workers are looking at a trickle so far, rather than a flood.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
On Friday, attention turns to August consumer price figures for the Tokyo metropolitan area that will indicate if higher oil prices triggered by the Middle East conflict are filtering through to broader consumer costs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
The spare room is shadowy even with the sunlight filtering through the small windows.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
