entertainment
Americannoun
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entertainments
plural
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the act of entertaining; agreeable occupation for the mind; diversion; amusement.
Solving the daily crossword puzzle is an entertainment for many.
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something affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement, especially a performance of some kind.
The highlight of the ball was an elaborate entertainment.
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hospitable provision for the needs and wants of guests.
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a divertingly adventurous, comic, or picaresque novel.
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Obsolete. maintenance in service.
noun
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the act or art of entertaining or state of being entertained
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an act, production, etc, that entertains; diversion; amusement
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of entertainment
Explanation
Entertainment is amusement, usually involving a performance. The clown at a birthday party, a Broadway show, a stadium rock concert, your friends fighting over the last potato chip––these are all forms of entertainment. Entertainment is from the Old French word entretenir meaning hold together or support. It was associated with hospitality––when you entertained a guest, you were keeping them happy. From there, it came to mean amuse or distract. The entertainment is the amusement or the distraction––we talk about theatrical entertainment as shows, visual entertainment as the stuff you like to look at, and audio entertainment as mostly music.
Vocabulary lists containing entertainment
Media Literacy - High School
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Media Literacy - Middle School
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Media Literacy - Introductory
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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.
See Examples For:
She was previously an entertainment producer with NBCUniversal, broadcast producer with CNA and producer-presenter with OGS and The Straits Times.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Live, Exposition Park, Long Beach, Inglewood and Carson, will have dedicated areas for pin trading, sport trials, entertainment zones and sponsorship activations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
A dedicated Irish Language Hub at The Mac will include free taster classes, arts and crafts workshops, circus skills, family entertainment and a dedicated family room throughout the week.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
The states argue that this merger would leave consumers paying more for less diverse news and entertainment options if finalized.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
People watch with mild interest through the glass wall of the Stratosphere crown—well-dressed people eating escargot and drinking radiation as their restaurant slowly revolves—and I realize I’m part of the evening’s entertainment.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Today, dragons and dungeon crawls are common entertainments.
From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026
"Christmas football was originally rooted in a wider tradition of communal entertainments," Professor Martin Johnes of Swansea University told BBC Sport.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025
The acting is fine, the characters generally endearing, and anyone familiar with local theater—or even just entertainments about local theater—will know the types.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
It can be a Nevada touring partner for those L.A. thematic entertainments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2024
I played dance-tunes at the convocations and entertainments of wealth.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
