entertainer
Americannoun
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entertainers
plural
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a singer, comedian, dancer, reciter, or the like, especially a professional one.
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a person who entertains; host.
She was one of the capital's great entertainers.
noun
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a professional singer, comedian, or other performer who takes part in public entertainments
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any person who entertains
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of entertainer
Explanation
An entertainer is a person whose job or goal is to perform for the amusement of others. If you're an entertainer, you might learn how to tap dance and take singing lessons. If you make your living as a comedian, you're an entertainer. You're also an entertainer if you're a dancer, singer, actor, or puppeteer. In all of these cases, your job is to entertain an audience. You can also call the member of your family who's always trying to make everyone laugh an entertainer. The word comes from the verb entertain, which originally meant "to keep up or maintain," and came to also mean "amuse" in the early 17th century.
Vocabulary lists containing entertainer
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.
See Examples For:
The veteran entertainer Christopher Biggins said Cricket was "unbelievably fantastic, I don't think I met a nicer man ever".
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Nik Ewing had an entertainer playing Ghost-Spider at his daughter Linnéa’s fourth birthday party and waited in a long line so she could meet Spider-Man at Disneyland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
It was the first time I really learned how to talk to an audience, read a room as an entertainer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
"For me, Grand Slam walk-ons are the only time that I possibly feel like I'm an entertainer."
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
All agreed that she was a superb entertainer.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
“There were certain acts that just filled the house and certain ones that didn’t,” says the park’s president, Tyler Carter, adding that early performances swung drastically from hip-hop to Christian rock entertainers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
His commitment to exciting attacking football remained, signing entertainers such as Eyal Berkovic and Ali Benarbia.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Tom Dreesen’s legacy will live on through the laughter he created, the barriers he helped break, the entertainers he inspired, and the countless lives he touched.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
Big personalities like Rousey and Conor McGregor helped him do it: both great fighters in their own right, both polarizing entertainers capable of generating big headlines.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
Now audiences, even in rural areas, are no longer as satisfied with local entertainers and demand world-class talent.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
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.
