infotainment

noun

in·fo·tain·ment ˌin-(ˌ)fō-ˈtān-mənt

: television programs that present information (such as news) in a manner intended to be entertaining

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Infotainment, a blend of "information" and "entertainment," first appeared in the early 1980s. Not everyone approves of "infotainment" and similar pieced-together, media-derived words (e.g., "infomercial" and "edutainment"), however. New York Times Magazine writer Joe Morgenstern referred to "infotainment" as "a plastic word, stuck together with show-biz epoxy." An editorialist for a New England newspaper called it "a nauseating word" that "has crept into the language without an invitation." Unfortunately for such detractors, the word continues to be used today. Not only that, but a new, distinct sense of the word is emerging. People in the automotive industry have recently begun using "infotainment" to refer to the state-of-the-art multimedia technologies (such as GPS systems and Internet radio) now available to drivers at the push of a button.

Examples of infotainment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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On the inside, Tesla has added ventilated front seats and an infotainment screen for the rear passengers, and there are now blindspot monitors, all additions that will help Tesla stay close to feature parity with its many rivals in that market. —

Ars Technica, 10 Jan. 2025 Electric vehicles have a carwash mode, typically accessed through the main infotainment screen. —

Mark Maynard, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Jan. 2025 Of course, once loaded down with gear, and if towing, efficiency drastically goes down. CHANGE: Location of infotainment screen The tester truck came equipped with Ram's 14.4-inch infotainment screen, which is integrated vertically into the center of the dashboard. —

Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2024 The cabin is dominated by the circular infotainment screen, and the belts embedded in the dash that neither function no attach to anything in particular. —

Michael Taylor, Forbes, 22 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for infotainment