subtitle

Pluralsubtitles

Formssubtitles, subtitling, subtitled

1. 1
   nouncountable

   Written text of the dialogue in a film, TV show, video game, or similar work, usually shown at the bottom of the screen.

   We watched the Korean thriller with English subtitles and never missed a line.

   During the shouting match, each subtitle flashed by too quickly to read.

   Similarcaption

   Note

   Dialogue reaches the screen as a stream of short lines of text, so the word mostly travels in the plural: a thriller with English subtitles. Subtitles usually translate what is said into the viewer's language; text that also describes sounds for viewers who cannot hear them tends to go by the name captions instead.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A secondary heading that appears below or after a title.

   The report's title was vague, but its subtitle spelled out the main findings.

   Editors at the magazine rewrote three subtitles before the issue went to print.

   Similarsubheading

   Note

   On a title page it sits on its own line beneath the main title; run into a single line, as in a citation or a catalog, it follows a colon. The pairing has a familiar division of labor: a short, catchy title that only hints, then a subtitle that says plainly what the book or report is about.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To prepare and add on-screen captions that translate or transcribe a film's dialogue.

   The festival asks every director to subtitle a film in English before it can be screened.

   The studio subtitled the documentary in six languages for its overseas release.

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