cinema
Americannoun
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movies collectively, as an art.
During the Great Depression, cinema provided psychological comfort, an escape from the harsh realities of daily life.
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Chiefly British. Also kinema movie theater.
Do you know if there is a cinema near the British Museum?
noun
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a place designed for the exhibition of films
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( as modifier )
a cinema seat
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the art or business of making films
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films collectively
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cinema
First recorded in 1895–1900; short for cinematograph
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."
Vocabulary lists containing cinema
And the Oscar Goes to... Award-worthy Words
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Academy Awards, List 6
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for July 17–July 23, 2021
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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.
In other words, it’s cinéma d’auteur vs. a blockbuster disaster movie in dazzling, deafening IMAX.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 12, 2026
“Bert was tired of cultural revolutionaries,” says Newton, “and when he saw me, he saw cinéma vérité.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 16, 2024
Mr. Blackwood filmed his subjects in the unobtrusive, no-frills cinéma vérité style, seeking to capture the creative process behind their art, often in studio visits.
From New York Times • Mar. 30, 2023
Heineman has become famous for a cinéma vérité approach that avoids both interviews and voiceovers, but this film takes that signature style to an entirely new level of art.
From Salon • Nov. 11, 2022
Shot using various cinéma verité techniques, with low production values, the film was poorly edited and thematically scattered.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
