1
a
: motion picture
—usually used attributively
b
: a motion-picture theater
2
a
: movies
especially
: the film industry
b
: the art or technique of making motion pictures
Synonyms
Examples of cinema in a Sentence
a student of French cinema
We drove by the cinema to see what was playing.
Recent Examples on the Web
As in Wallace and Gromit’s previous entertainments — and in innumerable films from almost the dawn of cinema — technology itself remains a leitmotif, here primarily as an endless font of anxious comedy about the contemporary world.
—
Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2025
Looking to the future, there are plenty of upcoming Star Wars games to be excited about as well as the return of Andor in 2025 and The Mandalorian & Grogu hitting cinemas in 2026.
—Ian Stokes, Space.com, 2 Jan. 2025
Metacritic Also Names Worst Movies Of 2024 While some individual critics named the worst movies of 2024, critic aggregation sites like Metacritic also assembled a list of the worst films cinemas had to offer this past year.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2025
Read the list » Plus: Richard Brody’s list shares just a few of the same films—and suggests that the art of cinema is expanding.
—Ian Crouch, The New Yorker, 31 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cinema 
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Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2025
Looking to the future, there are plenty of upcoming Star Wars games to be excited about as well as the return of Andor in 2025 and The Mandalorian & Grogu hitting cinemas in 2026.
—Ian Stokes, Space.com, 2 Jan. 2025
Metacritic Also Names Worst Movies Of 2024 While some individual critics named the worst movies of 2024, critic aggregation sites like Metacritic also assembled a list of the worst films cinemas had to offer this past year.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2025
Read the list » Plus: Richard Brody’s list shares just a few of the same films—and suggests that the art of cinema is expanding.
—Ian Crouch, The New Yorker, 31 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cinema
Dictionary Entries Near cinema
Cite this Entry
“Cinema.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cinema. Accessed 14 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cinema
noun
cin·e·ma
ˈsin-ə-mə 
1
a
: movie sense 2a
a cinema director
b
: a theater for showing movies
went to the cinema
2
a
: the business of making movies
worked in cinema
b
: the art or technique of making movies
a student of French cinema
cinematic
adjective
ˌsin-ə-ˈmat-ik
cinematically
adverb
-i-k(ə-)lē
Etymology
derived from French cinématographe "motion picture," from Greek kinēma "movement" and graphe "picture," from kinein "to move" — related to kinetic
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