plural cartoons
1
: a preparatory design, drawing, or painting (as for a fresco)
2
a
: a drawing intended as satire, caricature, or humor
a political cartoon
a cartoon drawing
b
: a group of drawings in narrative sequence : comic strip
3
: a video (such as a television show or movie) that is made from a series of drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of inanimate objects (such as puppets) and that simulates movement by slight progressive changes in each frame : animated cartoon
4
: a ludicrously simplistic, unrealistic, or one-dimensional portrayal or version
The film's villain is an entertaining cartoon.
cartoon
verb
cartoonishly
adverb
Examples of cartoon in a Sentence
She enjoys reading the cartoons in the Sunday paper.
The kids are watching cartoons.
Recent Examples on the Web
Continue reading … Click here for more cartoons… MEDIA
BLAME GAME – Carville blasts 'snot-nosed' Harris staffers for Rogan snub.
—
Fox News, 27 Nov. 2024
Johnson put the toy/comics/cartoons franchise on his large shoulders playing the machine-gunning Cobra hater.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 27 Nov. 2024
No one wants to hear your music, your movie, your phone conversation, your phone game, or your kids’ video games or cartoons.
—Rebecca Deurlein, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024
And then there’s 10 percent that are a mixture of people who see you as a jester or cartoon character who should get up and dance for them, and people who, in their head, have a full-on relationship with you and need to protect the fragile little boy from everybody else.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cartoon 
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Fox News, 27 Nov. 2024
Johnson put the toy/comics/cartoons franchise on his large shoulders playing the machine-gunning Cobra hater.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 27 Nov. 2024
No one wants to hear your music, your movie, your phone conversation, your phone game, or your kids’ video games or cartoons.
—Rebecca Deurlein, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024
And then there’s 10 percent that are a mixture of people who see you as a jester or cartoon character who should get up and dance for them, and people who, in their head, have a full-on relationship with you and need to protect the fragile little boy from everybody else.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cartoon
Dictionary Entries Near cartoon
Cite this Entry
“Cartoon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cartoon. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cartoon
noun
car·toon
kär-ˈtün 
1
: a design, drawing, or painting made as a model for the finished work
2
a
: a drawing intended as a humorous comment on public affairs
b
3
Etymology
from Italian cartone "pasteboard, a sketch of a planned drawing or painting done on heavy paper," from carta "sheet of paper," from Latin charta "piece of papyrus" — related to card entry 3, carton
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