animation

noun

an·​i·​ma·​tion ˌa-nə-ˈmā-shən 

plural animations

1

: the act of animating : the state of being animate or animated

2

: a movie, scene, or sequence that simulates movement from a series of still frames (such as drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of inanimate objects moved incrementally)

His work often condenses stories of intricate subjects into brief looping animations.

—Paul Tough

The work, titled Bigger Christmas Trees, was created on an iPad and features ten minutes of animation.

—Julia Binswanger

And as the animation above shows, this tilt causes the Moon's shadow to miss the Earth.

—Tom Yulsman

3

: the preparation of animation (as for animated cartoons, video games, commercials, etc.)

Synonyms

• briskness
• exuberance
• jazziness
• liveliness
• lustiness
• peppiness
• robustness
• sprightliness
• vibrance
• vibrancy
• vigorousness
• vitality

Examples of animation in a Sentence

The animation for the film took over two years to complete.

The studio used computer animation for some of the special effects.

The website has hundreds of animations you can download.

Recent Examples on the Web

Rich on crime thrillers, this year’s Spanish slate also plays to two of Spain’s strengths, the subject of Spanish Screenings showcases, which luckily enough are also proved to be of general market demand: animation and genre/fantasy. —John Hopewell, Variety, 5 Nov. 2024

The performance that’s far and away most memorable here, aside from Colman’s crazed nun, is that of the title character — a collaborative effort by animation director Pablo Grillo, the visual effects teams, and Whishaw’s voice performance. —Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Nov. 2024

The new tool brings advanced 3D animation capabilities to filmmakers of all skill levels by turning regular video footage into fully editable 3D scenes. —Charlie Fink, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024

The result is some of the most lively animation in a Nintendo game, even by the high standards of recent games like Super Mario. —Josh Broadwell, Rolling Stone, 4 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1597, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing animation

• suspended animation
• with animation

Kids Definition

animation

noun

an·​i·​ma·​tion ˌan-ə-ˈmā-shən 

1

: the state of being animate or animated

2

a

: a film made by photographing a series of positions of objects (as puppets)

b

: animated cartoon

3

: the making of animations

Medical Definition

animation

noun

an·​i·​ma·​tion ˌan-ə-ˈmā-shən 

: the state of being animate or animated see suspended animation