entertainment
[en-ter-teyn-muh nt]
- the act of entertaining; agreeable occupation for the mind; diversion; amusement: Solving the daily crossword puzzle is an entertainment for many.
- something affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement, especially a performance of some kind: The highlight of the ball was an elaborate entertainment.
- hospitable provision for the needs and wants of guests.
- a divertingly adventurous, comic, or picaresque novel.
- Obsolete. maintenance in service.
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Origin of entertainment
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for entertainment
Contemporary Examples
Beyoncé has, for close to a decade now, been a deity in entertainment: untouchable, successful, divine.
Bow Down, Bitches: How Beyoncé Turned an Elevator Brawl Into a Perfect YearKevin Fallon
December 31, 2014
Brad Rutter is trying to turn his trivia fame into entertainment.
Billboard and Entertainment Weekly similarly praised it upon the anniversary.
It took a lot to make the public and entertainment industry remember the allegations against Dr. Huxtable.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Heigl talked about the press event where she was asked about her difficult behavior.
Historical Examples
The roads are empty, the fields are deserted, the houses of entertainment are closed.
Sunday under Three HeadsCharles Dickens
There is a penalty for keeping open, houses of entertainment.
Sunday under Three HeadsCharles Dickens
He engaged me by the six months, and my entertainment was generous.
To be Read at DuskCharles Dickens
The only thing he thinks of that he can do to help is to give them an evening's entertainment.
Ester Ried Yet SpeakingIsabella Alden
She had always lived with children, and constantly had their entertainment in her mind.
Rico and WiseliJohanna Spyri
entertainment
- the act or art of entertaining or state of being entertained
- an act, production, etc, that entertains; diversion; amusement
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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 entertainment
n.
1530s, "provision for support of a retainer; manner of social behavior," now obsolete, along with other 16c. senses; from entertain + -ment. Meaning "the amusement of someone" is from 1610s; "that which entertains" is from 1650s; "public performance or display meant to amuse" is from 1727.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper