animation

noun

an·​i·​ma·​tion ˌa-nə-ˈmā-shən 

plural animations

1

: the act of animating : the state of being animate or animated

2

: a movie, scene, or sequence that simulates movement from a series of still frames (such as drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of inanimate objects moved incrementally)

His work often condenses stories of intricate subjects into brief looping animations.

—Paul Tough

The work, titled Bigger Christmas Trees, was created on an iPad and features ten minutes of animation.

—Julia Binswanger

And as the animation above shows, this tilt causes the Moon's shadow to miss the Earth.

—Tom Yulsman

3

: the preparation of animation (as for animated cartoons, video games, commercials, etc.)

Synonyms

• briskness
• exuberance
• jazziness
• liveliness
• lustiness
• peppiness
• robustness
• sprightliness
• vibrance
• vibrancy
• vigorousness
• vitality

Examples of animation in a Sentence

The animation for the film took over two years to complete.

The studio used computer animation for some of the special effects.

The website has hundreds of animations you can download.

Recent Examples on the Web

For the first time in more than 30 years — and only for six weeks — Fox will not lead off its Sunday animation block with The Simpsons. —Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Jan. 2025

The animation alone for a TV series from this era is insanely good. —Ollie Barder, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2025

For the Love of Sonic: Directing a Trilogy — With a background in visual effects and animation, director Jeff Fowler shares how directing the Sonic films has been a dream come true. —Nick Romano, EW.com, 20 Jan. 2025

The platform will also offer artificial intelligence animation, generative captions, and overlays like text, sound and voice effects, filters and stickers. —Greta Cross, USA TODAY, 19 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1597, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing animation

• suspended animation
• with animation

Kids Definition

animation

noun

an·​i·​ma·​tion ˌan-ə-ˈmā-shən 

1

: the state of being animate or animated

2

a

: a film made by photographing a series of positions of objects (as puppets)

b

: animated cartoon

3

: the making of animations

Medical Definition

animation

noun

an·​i·​ma·​tion ˌan-ə-ˈmā-shən 

: the state of being animate or animated see suspended animation