Having strong, obvious differences between light and dark areas, or between different elements; showing high contrast.
From contrast plus the adjective-forming suffix -y, which transforms nouns into adjectives describing a quality. This informal construction became common in photography and art terminology during the 20th century.
Photographers and artists use this word all the time to describe images that really 'pop'—where blacks are very black and whites are very white. It's technical jargon that snuck into everyday language because it's so useful!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.