cinema
Americannoun
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movies collectively, as an art.
During the Great Depression, cinema provided psychological comfort, an escape from the harsh realities of daily life.
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Chiefly British. Also kinema movie theater.
Do you know if there is a cinema near the British Museum?
noun
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a place designed for the exhibition of films
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( as modifier )
a cinema seat
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the art or business of making films
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films collectively
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cinema
First recorded in 1895–1900; short for cinematograph
Explanation
A cinema is another word for a movie theater. If you love films, you probably spend a lot of time at the cinema. It's more common to say cinema in Britain than in the United States, but any English speaker will know what you're talking about if you ask, "Want to go to the cinema?" You can also use cinema to talk about the film industry and its history: "This is my favorite film in all of American cinema." The word was first used in 1899, from the French cinéma, which was a shortened form of cinématographe, "motion picture projector and camera."
Vocabulary lists containing cinema
And the Oscar Goes to... Award-worthy Words
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Academy Awards, List 6
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for July 17–July 23, 2021
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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.
“The great news is it has been numerous films from different genres accounting for the success,” said Michael Polydoros, chief executive of cinema marketing agency Paper Airplane.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 21, 2026
Later, after a trip to the cinema, I tried calling her again.
From Slate • Jun. 20, 2026
"I feel sad. When I was a kid I used to watch movies in a big cinema with a big screen and somehow it's going smaller and smaller these days," he said.
From Barron's • Jun. 19, 2026
"One of the joys of cinema is being transported to a place that you didn't know of before or another culture, another language."
From BBC • Jun. 18, 2026
In June of 1953, a public meeting was called by the provincial executive of the ANC and the TIC at Sophiatown’s Odin cinema to discuss opposition to the removal.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
