English

Noun

subtitle ‎(plural subtitles)

1. A heading below or after a title.
2. Textual versions of the dialog in films, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen.
   • 1995, Richard Klein, “Introduction”, in Cigarettes are sublime, Paperback edition, Durham: Duke University Press, published 1993, ISBN 0-8223-1641-2, OCLC 613939086, page 9:

     Careful viewers have long observed that in the movies, one can not only watch but read cigarettes like subtitles — translating the action on the screen into another language which the camera registers but rarely foregrounds, a part of the thickness of the medium which is almost never brought into focus. […] The cigarette in the scene serves as a subtext, a mute caption or subtitle, sometimes accompanying, sometimes contradicting or diverting the explicit premise of the action or the open meaning of signs.

Usage notes

In film and video, subtitles usually translate foreign-language dialogue, while captions transcribe or describe all significant dialogue and sound for viewers who cannot hear it.

Derived terms

• subtitled, subtitling

Related terms

• surtitle, surtitles, surtitled, surtitling

See also

• Subtitle (titling) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Subtitle (captioning) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Translations

Verb

subtitle ‎(third-person singular simple present subtitles, present participle subtitling, simple past and past participle subtitled)

1. To create subtitles for the dialog in a film.

Translations

Anagrams

• blue tits, bluetits