anime

[an-uh-mey]

noun

a Japanese style of motion-picture animation, characterized by highly stylized, colorful art, futuristic settings, violence, and sexuality.

Origin of anime

1985–90; < Japanese, borrowing of English animation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for anime

Contemporary Examples of anime

The popularity of anime tales featuring man-on-man passion is burgeoning among Japanese women.
The Japanese Women Who Love Gay Anime
Brandon Presser
December 6, 2014
The original Japanese anime ran for five years, from 1992 to 1997.
‘Sailor Moon’ Is an Oasis for Superheroes Who Can Save the Universe in Heels
Rich Goldstein
November 26, 2014
An anime fanatic in middle school, Jackson thought to herself one day: “Hey, maybe I should try watching real people.”
Black K-Pop Fans Come Out of the Closet
Sterling Wong
August 31, 2014
The reason: opposition from the publishing and anime industries and even from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
Japan's Kiddie Porn Empire: Bye-Bye?
Jake Adelstein, Angela Erika Kubo
June 3, 2014
We can only sit and stew in our conviction that anime is becoming an important port of inspiration.
Hollywood Sci-Fi Films Are Ripping Off Anime
David Levesley
April 18, 2014

Historical Examples of anime

Anime, an′im, n. the resin of the West Indian locust-tree—used also for other gums and resins.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D)
Various

British Dictionary definitions for anime

anime

noun

a type of Japanese animated film with themes and styles similar to manga comics

Word Origin for anime

C20: from Japanese

animé

noun

any of various resins, esp that obtained from the tropical American leguminous tree Hymenaea courbaril

Word Origin for animé

French: of uncertain origin

animé

adjective, adverb

music the French word for animato

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

Word Origin and History for anime

c.1985, Japanese for "animation," a term that seems to have arisen in the 1970s, apparently based on French animé "animated, lively, roused," from the same root as English animate (adj.). Probably taken into Japanese from a phrase such as dessin animé "cartoon," literally "animated design," with the adjective abstracted or mistaken, due to its position, as a noun.

Manga (q.v.) is Japanese for "comic book, graphic novel," but anime largely are based on manga and until 1970s, anime were known in Japan as manga eiga or "TV manga." The two terms are somewhat confused in English.