cinema

American  

[sin-uh-muh] / ˈsɪn ə mə /

noun

• cinemas
  plural

1. movies collectively, as an art.

   During the Great Depression, cinema provided psychological comfort, an escape from the harsh realities of daily life.

2. Chiefly British. Also kinema movie theater.

   Do you know if there is a cinema near the British Museum?

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cinema British  

/ ˈsɪnɪmə /

noun

1. 1. a place designed for the exhibition of films

   2. ( as modifier )

      a cinema seat

2. 1. the art or business of making films

   2. films collectively

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cinematic
  adjective
• cinematically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cinemas
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cinema

First recorded in 1895–1900; short for cinematograph

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Explanation

A cinema is another word for a movie theater. If you love films, you probably spend a lot of time at the cinema. It's more common to say cinema in Britain than in the United States, but any English speaker will know what you're talking about if you ask, "Want to go to the cinema?" You can also use cinema to talk about the film industry and its history: "This is my favorite film in all of American cinema." The word was first used in 1899, from the French cinéma, which was a shortened form of cinématographe, "motion picture projector and camera."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cinema cinemas

Skydance-owned Paramount Pictures has taken over the lease for the Bay Theater in Pacific Palisades and intends to reopen the cinema, which has been closed since the January 2025 Palisades fire last year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Kubrick’s cinema may last forever . . . and ever . . . and ever.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

New fantasy rom-com Wicker, starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, has sparked a flood of viral memes and tongue-in-cheek jokes on social media ahead of its cinema release.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

But she lives on in cinema, thanks to the 1985 landmark queer Mexican film “Doña Herlinda and Her Son,” by director Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, where she played the titular Doña Herlinda.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

It’s not a big mall, but it has everything—an arcade, a cinema, restaurants, South Africa’s version of Target, South Africa’s version of the Gap.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah

The launch is part of celebrations marking Zelda's 40th anniversary, alongside a global concert tour and a live-action film hitting cinemas next spring.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Wicker is released in UK cinemas on October 30.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

As Disney's $71bn buyout of 21st Century Fox in 2019 proved, mega-deals can lead to fewer films in cinemas.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

His photographs capture not only the movie houses but their ornate facades and decay -- a record of a cultural landscape disappearing as cinemas are demolished, converted into multiplexes or left to crumble.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

“Films that cinemas were trashing. If a theater shut down, we raided the basements. And occasionally, if we liked a film enough when we saw it, we’d have a...er...word with the projectionist about it.”

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

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Related Words

• film
• movie house
• movie theater

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