noun

• 1The process of printing from a flat surface treated so as to repel the ink except where it is required for printing.

  The earliest forms of lithography used greasy ink to form an image on a piece of limestone that was then etched with acid and treated with gum arabic. In a modern press, rollers transfer ink to a thin aluminum plate wrapped around a cylinder. In offset lithography the image is transferred to an intermediate rubber-covered cylinder before being printed

  ‘Printing on aluminum foil can be accomplished by any commercial process, including rotogravure, flexography, lithography, and letterpress.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Over 10,000 means that we could switch from letter press to offset lithography, a process which depends on the immiscibility of greasy ink and water on a lithographic plate.’
  • ‘In offset lithography, a printing process commonly used for mass production, the image is taken from the plate by a rubber roller that then transfers the image to the paper.’
  • ‘The actual process of printing by offset lithography is not new, but has been hugely refined in terms of quality and speed.’
  • ‘The main types of printmaking are screenprinting, lithography, intaglio and relief.’
  • ‘The Japanese government established a governmental printing department and lithography was used by the Japanese army.’
  • ‘For an artist to be able to inspire poetry of the eye while employing a multilayered technical process as complicated as lithography, that's sheer genius.’
  • ‘For graphics on paperboard cartons, users request flexography, lithography and hot stamping as well as thermochromatic and food-contact inks.’
  • ‘In the past, we've seen her deriving images from the media, sandblasting text and images onto mirror surfaces and working with photo-serigraphy and lithography.’
  • ‘Traditional fakes come from a process called offset lithography that produces phony dollars without the ‘raised ink’ feel of genuine bills.’
  • ‘Imprint lithography also involves fewer process steps, further reducing the overall cost of the technology.’
  • ‘He also had international exposure as he studied intaglio printmaking lithography and ceramics in Israel.’
  • ‘Invented in the late 18th century, stone or plate lithography uses an inked slab of limestone or a specially treated metal plate to transfer an image to paper.’
  • ‘"The standard quality for most contemporary maps is offset lithography," he said.’
  • ‘Touch plates or added color embellishments are not uncommon in offset lithography.’
  • ‘Imprint lithography is a process in which a liquid is dispensed onto a substrate.’
  • ‘Imprint lithography also involves fewer process steps, further reducing the overall cost of the technology.’
  • ‘In 1888 there were more than 100 publishers in Tokyo alone who used lithography.’
  • ‘The approach uses lithography to etch a pattern onto the platter.’
  • ‘In conventional lithography, features that are not anchored are washed away in intermediate development steps.’

  1. 1.1Electronics An analogous method for making printed circuits.
     ‘In microelectronics manufacturing, lithography plays the analogous role.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘For example, polymer nanoimprint lithography could help the electronics industry achieve the resolution requirements needed for next-generation devices.’
     • ‘Electron beam lithography involves striking a surface with a beam of electrons with patterning capabilities below 100 nm.’
     • ‘The timeline puts the screws to extreme ultraviolet lithography, but engineers rise to the challenge.’
     • ‘As the semiconductor industry looks to the future, stepper manufacturers are gearing up for extreme ultraviolet lithography.’