entertainment

noun

en·​ter·​tain·​ment ˌen-tər-ˈtān-mənt 

1

a

: amusement or diversion provided especially by performers

hired a band to provide entertainment

b

: something diverting or engaging: such as

(1)

: a public performance

(2)

: a usually light comic or adventure novel

2

: the act of entertaining

3

a

archaic : maintenance, provision

b

obsolete : employment

Synonyms

• amusement
• recreation
• enjoyment
• production
• diversion

Examples of entertainment in a Sentence

Entertainment was provided by jugglers.

plays, movies, and other forms of entertainment

They played games in the evening for entertainment.

plays, movies, and other entertainments

Recent Examples on the Web

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter. —Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025

Chloe Melas Chloe Melas is an entertainment correspondent for NBC News. —Adam Reiss, NBC news, 31 Oct. 2025

When Browning was directing and producing Freaks, then, the circus sideshow was broadly culturally legible and in interplay with cinema as an evolving part of variety entertainment. —JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2025

Maia’s friends are similarly distant from what anyone born before 1980 might recognize as entertainment. —Alison Herman, Variety, 30 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Phrases Containing entertainment

• entertainment value
• non-entertainment

Rhymes for entertainment

• ascertainment
• arraignment
• attainment
• containment
• entrainment
• sustainment

Kids Definition

entertainment

noun

en·​ter·​tain·​ment ˌen-tər-ˈtān-mənt 

1

: the act or process of providing pleasure, recreation, or amusement

2

: a means of amusement or recreation

especially : a public performance