motion picture
Americannoun
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Movies.
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a sequence of consecutive still images photographed in a series by a specially designed camera motion-picture camera and thrown on a screen by a projector motion-picture projector in such rapid succession as to give the illusion of natural movement.
Jean Cocteau produced some of the most innovative motion pictures of the postwar era.
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such a video sequence recorded and played in other media formats, as VHS or digital video.
Critics have given mixed reviews to the new trend of feature-length motion pictures shot on smartphones.
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a story, event, or the like, presented in this form.
The motion picture is adapted from the novel of the same name.
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motion pictures, the art, technique, or business of producing motion pictures.
The Academy honors achievement in motion pictures every year at the Oscars.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of motion picture
First recorded in 1890–95
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.
To display his photographs in rapid succession, Muybridge invented a device that birthed the motion picture.
From Slate • May 25, 2026
“Going to the movies must be more affordable again,” Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures’ motion picture group, told a crowd of exhibitors at the recent CinemaCon industry convention in Las Vegas.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 27, 2026
Two decades ago, the court sided with the music and motion picture producers and ruled against Grokster and Napster on the grounds their software was intended to share copyrighted music and movies.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2026
It also snagged a Golden Globe for original song and the movie won for animated motion picture.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 15, 2026
She was Montana Wildhack, a motion picture star.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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.
