cartoon

noun

car·​toon kär-ˈtün How to pronounce cartoon (audio)
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
cartooning noun
cartoonish adjective
cartoonishly adverb
cartoonist noun
cartoonlike adjective
cartoony adjective

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Director Dean Fleischer Camp’s family adventure feels like an excessively earnest Disney Channel movie compared with the delightfully unhinged 2002 cartoon. Brian Truitt, USA Today, 21 May 2025 Hollywood as a city where humans and cartoons uneasily coexist—most notably in the segregated Toontown. Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 21 May 2025 A couple of clicks on a laptop later, and an artificial intelligence tool synced Mr. Peck’s voice with a cartoon pirate’s mouth movements. Brooks Barnes, New York Times, 21 May 2025 Test your knowledge of classic New Yorker cartoons. Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 19 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for cartoon

Word History

Etymology

Italian cartone pasteboard, cartoon, augmentative of carta leaf of paper — more at card entry 1

First Known Use

circa 1684, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of cartoon was circa 1684

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Cartoon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cartoon. Accessed 27 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

cartoon

noun
car·​toon kär-ˈtün How to pronounce cartoon (audio)
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
3
cartoonist noun
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

More from Merriam-Webster on cartoon

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