entertainment

American  

[en-ter-teyn-muhnt] / ˌɛn tərˈteɪn mənt /

noun

• entertainments
  plural

1. the act of entertaining; agreeable occupation for the mind; diversion; amusement.

   Solving the daily crossword puzzle is an entertainment for many.

2. something affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement, especially a performance of some kind.

   The highlight of the ball was an elaborate entertainment.

3. hospitable provision for the needs and wants of guests.

4. a divertingly adventurous, comic, or picaresque novel.

5. Obsolete. maintenance in service.

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entertainment British  

/ ˌɛntəˈteɪnmənt /

noun

1. the act or art of entertaining or state of being entertained

2. an act, production, etc, that entertains; diversion; amusement

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonentertainment
  noun
• preentertainment
  noun
• self-entertainment
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• entertainments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of entertainment

First recorded in 1525–35; entertain + -ment

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

entertainment entertainments

Her business ventures included music publishing, her Dollywood theme park, a production company, dining and entertainment establishments and branded products.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Born Bernice Utal on Dec. 22, 1928, in East Orange, N.J., to parents Rudolph Utal and Elsie Elizabeth Rubin, the actor had a lifelong passion for entertainment during the golden age of Hollywood cinema.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

Saudi Arabia is aiming to diversify its economy away from its dependence on oil revenues, including via investment in the leisure and entertainment industry.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

And in 2024, a host of figures who’d previously shied away from the president loudly and proudly got on board, from Vance to entertainment figures like Joe Rogan.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

We had few forms of entertainment, so we made a game of talking.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Superhero-based entertainments, as we’ve come to know them, are comedies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

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

Upholding this legacy seems a more vital role for a critic than operating as a tour guide of commercial entertainments.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2024

I remained in my room for two nights and days, not caring that I missed the entertainments in the great hall.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein