cartoon

[ kahr-toon ]

See synonyms for cartoon on Thesaurus.com

noun

a sketch or drawing, usually humorous, as in a newspaper or periodical, symbolizing, satirizing, or caricaturing some action, subject, or person of popular interest.
comic strip.

animated cartoon.
Fine Arts. a full-scale design for a picture, ornamental motif or pattern, or the like, to be transferred to a fresco, tapestry, etc.

adjective

resembling a cartoon or caricature: The novel is full of predictable, cartoon characters, never believable as real people.

verb (used with object)

to represent by a cartoon.

verb (used without object)

to draw cartoons.

Origin of cartoon

First recorded in 1665–75; from Italian cartone “pasteboard, stout paper, a drawing on such paper,” equivalent to cart(a) “paper” (see carte) + -one augmentative suffix

Other words from cartoon

car·toon·ish, adjective
car·toon·ist, noun
un·car·tooned, adjective

Words that may be confused with cartoon

1. burlesque, caricature, cartoon , parody, satire
2. carton, cartoon

Words Nearby cartoon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cartoon in a sentence

But along with the cartoon funk is an all-too-real story of police brutality embodied by a horde of evil Pigs.
‘Black Dynamite’ Presents Police Brutality: The Musical | Stereo Williams | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
Editorial and political cartoon pages from throughout the world almost unanimously came to the same conclusion.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead | Luke O’Neil | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
The first two videos are teasers featuring two favorite cartoon characters for young girls, Dora the Explorer and Tinkerbell.
Sleazy Billionaire’s Double Life Featured Beach Parties With Stephen Hawking | M.L. Nestel | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
As it turns out, though, cartoon curmudgeons get the best, most ridiculous lines.
‘Downton Abbey’ Review: A Fire, Some Sex, and Sad, Sad Edith | Kevin Fallon | January 5, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
You know the cartoon segment that used to be in colour in rancid old newspapers?
The Rancid Ballad of Johnny Rotten: His Memoir Seethes With Anger—And Charm | Legs McNeil | November 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

As to technique, Schwind was a child of the cartoon era; as regards tenderness of feeling, he is a modern.
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4) | Richard Muther
Moreover, Gros did not content himself with the scanty palette and the miserable cartoon-draughtsmanship of his contemporaries.
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4) | Richard Muther
The exceptions are in the books printed explanations, not in any cartoon.
Fragments From France | Captain Bruce Bairnsfather
It is therefore highly significant that Mr. Raemaekers has in this cartoon conceived the devil primarily as a kind of ogre.
Raemaekers' Cartoons | Louis Raemaekers
The cartoon in which the Prussian is depicted as saying to his bound and gagged victim, "Ain't I a lovable fellow?"
Raemaekers' Cartoons | Louis Raemaekers

British Dictionary definitions for cartoon

cartoon

/ (kɑːˈtuːn) /

noun

a humorous or satirical drawing, esp one in a newspaper or magazine, concerning a topical event
Also called: comic strip a sequence of drawings in a newspaper, magazine, etc, relating a comic or adventurous situation

See animated cartoon
a full-size preparatory sketch for a fresco, tapestry, mosaic, etc, from which the final work is traced or copied

Origin of cartoon

C17: from Italian cartone pasteboard, sketch on stiff paper; see carton

Derived forms of cartoon

cartoonist, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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