theater

American  

[thee-uh-ter, theeuh-] / ˈθi ə tər, ˈθiə- /

Or theatre

noun

1. a building, part of a building, or outdoor area for housing dramatic performances or stage entertainments, or for showing movies.

2. the audience at a theatrical performance or movie.

   The whole theater was weeping.

3. a theatrical or acting company.

4. a room or hall, fitted with tiers of seats rising like steps, used for lectures, surgical demonstrations, etc..

   Students crowded into the operating theater.

5. the theater, dramatic performances as a branch of art; the field or discipline of staged drama.

   an actress devoted to the theater.

6. Often the theater dramatic works collectively, as of literature, a nation, or an author.

   the theater of Ibsen.

7. the quality or effectiveness of dramatic performance: bad theater;

   good theater;

   bad theater;

   pure theater.

8. a place of dramatic action, especially during a war.

   the Pacific theater during World War II.

   Synonyms:

   stage, site, arena

9. a public display of action or speech that gives a false impression of accomplishing or promising something, merely for the sake of appearances (often used in combination): Public health experts have said that the time and money spent on cleaning may be unnecessary hygiene theater. Forget all his blustering about doing what's best for our city—it's just theater to please his union masters and protect his political base.

   Washington D.C.'s Metro transit system has instituted random bag searches, and many travelers are just as unhappy about the security theater on the train as in the airport.

   Public health experts have said that the time and money spent on cleaning may be unnecessary hygiene theater.

   Companies need to go beyond diversity theater and commit to long-term, concrete metrics for change.

   Forget all his blustering about doing what's best for our city—it's just theater to please his union masters and protect his political base.

10. a natural formation of land rising by steps or gradations.

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Pronunciation

Theater, an early Middle English borrowing from French, originally had its primary stress on the second syllable: . As with many early French borrowings ( beauty, carriage, marriage ), the stress moved to the first syllable, in conformity with a common English pattern of stress, and this pattern remains the standard one for theater today: . A pronunciation with stress on the second syllable and the vowel , as or sometimes is characteristic chiefly of a nonstandard regional pronunciation in the United States that may be perceived as uneducated.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nontheater
  adjective
• pretheater
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of theater

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English theatre, from Latin theātrum, from Greek théātron “seeing place, theater,” equivalent to theā-, stem of theâsthai “to view” + -tron suffix denoting means or place

Explanation

If you are sitting in a crowd of people watching actors on a stage, you're probably in a theater. If the performance is projected on a large screen, you're in a movie theater. The Greek word for theater (theatron) comes from the verb theasthai, meaning “behold.” You are likely to behold a play or a film inside a theater. If you've dedicated your life to theater, you are probably an actor, director or playwright. Remember when you yelled “fire!” in a crowded theater and got arrested? That wasn't funny.

Example Sentences

This time there was no film, no lighting and not much theater, Dudamel relying on the sheer intensity of the music.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026

Times theater critic Charles McNulty called Lithgow’s performance “at once terrifying and never anything less than human,” and “one of the bravest” of the Broadway season.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026

Bess Wohl's play "Liberation," a look at second-wave feminism, and musical "Schmigadoon!" earned the top prizes on Sunday at the 79th Tony Awards, the highest honors in American theater.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

The eight-bedroom seven-bathroom property sits on 4.12 acres and boasts a chef’s kitchen, home theater, entertainment room, and primary suite with a fireplace and private waterfront balcony.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 2026

All her waking hours it seemed were spent in the theater.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

Related Words

• amphitheater
• arena
• auditorium
• cinema
• concert hall
• drama
• hall
• house
• movie
• movie house
• opera house
• playhouse
• room
• scene
• site
• theatre