Standard Lemma guide

raster

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈɹæstɚ/
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈɹɑːstə(ɹ)/
  • rhymes with -æstə(ɹ)
  • rhymes with -ɑːstə(ɹ)
  • homophone: rasta(in some pronunciations)
  • CMU ARPABET: R AE1 S T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A scanning pattern of parallel lines that form the display of an image projected on a cathode-ray tube of a television set or display screen.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: business, electrical-engineering, electricity, electromagnetism, electronics, energy, engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A bitmap image, consisting of a grid of pixels, stored as a sequence of lines.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computer-graphics, computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bitmap, pixmap

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To scan in parallel lines.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the rectangular formation of parallel scanning lines that guide the electron beam on a television screen or a computer monitor

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: formation

History

Etymology

From German Raster, from Latin rāster, from rāstrum (“rake”, noun), from rādō (“to scrape”, verb).

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • German: Raster — scanning pattern of parallel lines
  • Esperanto: rastero — computer graphics: a bitmap image, consisting of a grid of pixels, stored as a sequence of lines
  • Esperanto: rastrumo — computer graphics: a bitmap image, consisting of a grid of pixels, stored as a sequence of lines
  • German: Rasterbild — computer graphics: a bitmap image, consisting of a grid of pixels, stored as a sequence of lines
  • German: Rastergrafik — computer graphics: a bitmap image, consisting of a grid of pixels, stored as a sequence of lines
  • German: Pixelgrafik — computer graphics: a bitmap image, consisting of a grid of pixels, stored as a sequence of lines
  • Greek: ράστερ (ráster) — computer graphics: a bitmap image, consisting of a grid of pixels, stored as a sequence of lines
  • Portuguese: raster — computer graphics: a bitmap image, consisting of a grid of pixels, stored as a sequence of lines
  • Portuguese: matricial — computer graphics: a bitmap image, consisting of a grid of pixels, stored as a sequence of lines
  • Spanish: ráster — computer graphics: a bitmap image, consisting of a grid of pixels, stored as a sequence of lines
Real reading context

raster in complete knowledge articles