animated
Americanadjective
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full of life, action, or spirit; lively; vigorous.
an animated debate on the death penalty.
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made or equipped to move or give the appearance of moving in an animallike fashion.
animated puppets.
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containing representations of animals or mechanical objects that appear to move as real ones do.
an animated window display.
adjective
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full of vivacity and spirit; lively
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characterized by movement and activity
an animated scene met her eye
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possessing life; animate
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moving or appearing to move as if alive
an animated display
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pertaining to cinematographic animation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of animated
Explanation
Something that seems full of life and movement is said to be animated. Animated films for television and movies include cartoons, Claymation, puppets, and computer-generated images, which are all simulations of living things. The Latin animāre "give breath to" is the basis for the word animated. The business of animated films has grown with the advent of computers, but the idea of animating something began long before cartoons and CGI. In Mary Shelley's classic 19th-century novel "Frankenstein," the monster, built of dead parts, is animated by electrical impulses, an idea that "sparked" a fascination with regeneration that survives to this very day.
Vocabulary lists containing animated
Speak Your Mind: Anim
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Esperanza Rising
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Vocabulary from "Community is the 'killer app' missing from virtual reality" by Dmitri Williams
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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.
Eight years later, the film adaptation was nominated for best animated feature at the Oscars, having been co-directed by Satrapi.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
Whether in the films beloved by the Wu-Tang or the animated sagas Megan favors, characters battle not simply for survival but to achieve mastery.
From Salon • May 31, 2026
The Appleseed myth reached a high point in 1948, when Walt Disney released an animated musical film about a gentle soul who spent his days “workin’, singin’, carefree, and gay.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
Cage, who voiced a different version of the “Spider-Noir” character in the animated “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” is a good choice for the weary gumshoe.
From Los Angeles Times • May 25, 2026
Never had she appeared so animated, so weirdly excited.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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.
