toon

1 of 2

noun (1)

ˈtün 

variants or 'toon

plural toons or 'toons

: cartoon: such as

a

: comic strip

… launched the 'toon in 1930, with Dagwood as a lazy rich playboy and flapper Blondie as one of his many girlfriends.

—Mike Peters

b

: animated cartoon

… its most recent live-action adaptation of one of its classic toons, earned a tidy $69 million in its first weekend in theaters, good enough for first place.

—Mike Scott

also : a character in an animated cartoon

… it's surprisingly easy for the reader too to accept Gary Wolf's wacky universe, where humans interact with 'toons.

—The New York Times

… witty new catchphrases for the endearingly wiseass little toon Bart Simpson …

—Entertainment Weekly

toon

2 of 2

noun (2)

ˈtün 

: a southeast Asian and Australian tree (Toona ciliata synonym Cedrela toona) of the mahogany family with aromatic dark red to reddish-brown wood

also : its wood

Examples of toon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Bob Hoskins plays the private investigator Eddie Valiant, who must overcome his grudge against toons when he’s hired to exonerate Roger Rabbit from murder charges. —Zack Sharf, Variety, 1 Nov. 2024

The pair has formed a joint venture to create preschool series Wonder Whiskers and tween toon based on author Chamalotte Johnson’s Wolfnight — L’élue d’Algatia fantasy universe. —Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2024

The Bangtan Universe now spans twenty-seven official videos, and has been augmented by books, Web toons, and a video game. —Alex Barasch, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024

The great French animation wizard Sylvain Chomet (Oscar nominated for The Triplets of Belleville) created this toon as a bit of an homage to the fun world of those old cartoons, but also as a warning of what is to come in the split musical universe in Joker’s head. —Pete Hammond, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2024

Another canceled Max toon, Scavengers Reign, took the toon prize for Background Design. —Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 14 Aug. 2024

Newhart went on to guest on TV comedies including Murphy Brown and The Simpsons and voiced a role in the 1990 toon feature The Rescuers Down Under. —Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 18 July 2024

Laughing Dragon Studios recently grabbed a skateboard for a Tony Hawk toon, and now the Canadian production house has switched focus to the festive season. —Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 11 July 2024

Animated entries like the successful Kung Fu Panda 4 and Netflix’s new The Imaginary (opening in the same streaming slot as the streamer’s last nominee, Nimona) could land a ‘toon nod along with Inside Out 2. —Pete Hammond, Deadline, 1 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

by shortening

Noun (2)

Hindi & Urdu tūn, from Sanskrit tunna

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1932, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1810, in the meaning defined above