cartoon

[ kahr-toon ]

/ kɑrˈtun /

SEE MORE 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.

Nearby words

cartography, cartomancy, carton, carton-pierre, cartonnier, cartoon, cartoonish, cartop, cartophily, cartopper, cartouche

Origin of cartoon

1665–75; < Italian cartone pasteboard, stout paper, a drawing on such paper, equivalent to cart(a) paper (see carte) + -one augmentative suffix

Related forms

car·toon·ish, adjectivecar·toon·ist, nounun·car·tooned, adjective

Can be confused

burlesque caricature cartoon parody satire (see synonym study at burlesque) (see synonym study at satire)carton cartoon

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

Examples from the Web for cartoon

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|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|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|DAILY BEAST
And The Prize Is Death, a cartoon by Albert Levering, attacks an epidemic of reckless driving.
The Magazine That Made—and Unmade—Politicians|Anthony Haden-Guest|November 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST

And in the age of South Park and Family Guy, not much is going to shock us in a “Tom and Jerry” cartoon.
Is ‘Tom and Jerry’ Really Racist?|Lizzie Crocker|October 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They were only in the cartoon, however, at the time of his death.
Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made|James D. McCabe, Jr.
He reminded me very much of a cartoon character at that time.
Warren Commission (11 of 26): Hearings Vol. XI (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
And the cartoon, which he copied exactly after that of Michelagnolo, was executed with great patience and very beautiful.
Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects|Giorgio Vasari
It is hard to avoid reading into the cartoon "Breaking the Charm" in 1909 more than Punch meant to express.
Mr. Punch's History of Modern England Vol. IV of IV.|Charles L. Graves
A cartoon of the Fall of the Angels marked this period,—now also in the Liverpool museum.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 8|Various

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

Derived Forms

cartoonist, noun

Word Origin for cartoon

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

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