noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A translucent design impressed on the surface of paper and visible when the paper is held to the light.
2. 2
   a distinguishing mark impressed on paper during manufacture; visible when paper is held up to the light wordnet
3. 3
   A logo superimposed on a digital image, a television broadcast, etc. broadly
4. 4
   a line marking the level reached by a body of water wordnet
5. 5
   A value stored in a datafile to ensure its integrity, so that if the file's contents are changed then the watermark will no longer match the contents.

Show 2 more definitions

6. 6
   A default hint caption displayed in a text box prior to the user inputting any text.
7. 7
   A mark indicating the level to which water has risen.

Verb

1. 1
   To mark paper with a watermark. transitive
2. 2
   To mark a datafile with a digital watermark. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

birthmarkblazeblemishblotchbrandcaste mark

Example

More examples

""Is this actually a $100 bill?" "Yeah, check out the watermark.""

Etymology

From water + mark.

Related phrases

digital watermarkwatermark diseasedigital watermark

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.