movie
Americannoun
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a sequence of consecutive still images recorded in a series to be viewed on a screen in such rapid succession as to give the illusion of natural movement; motion picture.
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a story, event, or the like, presented in this form.
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movies,
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Usually the movies the movie industry.
The movies use MPA ratings to inform patrons about content that may not be suitable for certain audiences.
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all movies as a group, or a specific category of movies, considered as a genre.
gangster movies.
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the exhibition of movies.
an evening at the movies.
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Often the movies a movie theater.
Is there anything good playing at the movies on Main Street?
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noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of movie
First recorded in 1905–10; mov(ing picture) + -ie
Explanation
A movie is a film that you watch at a theater or at home on your TV, laptop, or tablet. Movie is short for "moving picture," which was pretty exciting in the late 1800s. You can rave about your favorite movie — whether it's "Citizen Kane" or "The Lion King" — and you can also talk about "the movies," or films in general and the industry that makes them. You might dream of working in the movies, for example. Before about 1912, movies were called "motion pictures." Movie is a shortened form of the phrase, which some people abbreviate into the more old-fashioned sounding "pictures."
Vocabulary lists containing movie
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The performance earned her the award for best villain at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2026
Her I-got-this lines, notably “This does not look like this is gonna end well—for you guys,” sound like someone bought them at the Dollar Store for Hardboiled Movie Quotes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 25, 2026
It is estimated to be this year's second-biggest opening weekend globally, after The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
From BBC • Jun. 22, 2026
Yet when a group of performers recently got onto the topic during The Envelope’s Emmy Limited Series / TV Movie Roundtable, it turned out everyone had their own way of doing it.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
The MTV Movie and TV Awards become the first major acting awards to eliminate gendered categories for performance.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
