sprite

noun

ˈsprīt 

plural sprites

1

a

: elf, fairy

b

: an elfish person

2

a

: a disembodied spirit : ghost

b

archaic : soul

3

: a form of electrical discharge that sometimes is emitted upwards from the top of a cumulonimbus cloud during a thunderstorm at the same time that lightning strikes downward and that usually appears as a red or reddish-orange flash of light

Atmospheric scientist Walter Lyons and his colleagues … noticed unusual behavior in storms over the plains: They triggered huge numbers of "sprites"—ghostly red glows of excited nitrogen molecules often seen high above violent storms.

—Robert Irion

4

: a bitmapped image or repeating loop of images that can move independently on a display often on top of a static background

Sprites are complex mathematically constructed models, sometimes simple (such as a computer cursor) and sometimes more complex, perhaps even humanoid in appearance.

—Stewart Fist

While the main character and enemy sprites in this … shooter are unusually large and detailed for the era, what really makes this game stand out are the highly detailed backgrounds that stand toe-to-toe with better-known NES games.

—Chris Freiberg

Gaming has grown from an eight-bit industry with sprites dancing across the cathode ray tube televisions of the '80s and '90s into a $180 billion global juggernaut with an audience that is larger than sports, movies and music combined.

—Andy Brownfield

Synonyms

• brownie
• dwarf
• elf
• faerie
• faery
• fairy
• fay
• gnome
• goblin
• gremlin
• hobgoblin
• kobold
• leprechaun
• pixie
• pixy
• puck
• troll

Examples of sprite in a Sentence

the child insisted that he'd seen a sprite hiding in the garden

told hair-raising stories of sprites and spectral ships

Recent Examples on the Web

Disney+ Nick Mohammed plays a sprite named Billy Blind, charged with protecting Nell. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 15 Apr. 2024

Normally, textures, sprites, models, shaders, prefabs, etc are all saved locally and loaded at the beginning of each level. —New Atlas, 8 Sep. 2024

The front of the set is assembled from Lego tiles and looks to be a very accurate recreation of the 16-bit sprites used in Super Mario World. —Andrew Liszewski, The Verge, 25 July 2024

Lego’s designers incorporated a pair of mechanisms to recreate the game’s sprite animations. —Andrew Liszewski, The Verge, 25 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English sprit, from Anglo-French espriz, espirit spirit, sprite — more at spirit

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Phrases Containing sprite

• water sprite

Kids Definition

sprite

noun

ˈsprīt 

: elf, fairy