1. A colorless flammable material made from nitrocellulose and camphor and used to make photographic film.
2. 1. Motion-picture film: "a strange, anachronistic sight: theater pieces transferred to celluloid" (David Ansen).
   2. The cinema; motion pictures: "There are no heroes but in celluloid" (Charles Langbridge Morgan).

1. Made of or using a material made from nitrocellulose and camphor.
2. Of or portrayed on film or in motion pictures.
3. Artificial; synthetic: a novel with flat, celluloid characters.

[Originally a trademark.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.