animation

noun

an·i·ma·tion | \ ˌa-nə-ˈmā-shən

Definition of animation

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

2 : animated cartoon

3 : the preparation of animated cartoons

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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 Web site has hundreds of animations you can download.

Recent Examples on the Web

As the film uses Flash animation, the character designs are stripped down and minimal. — Charles Solomon, latimes.com, "Japanese animation 'Lu Over the Wall' gives mermaid tale new life," 10 May 2018 Several 2018 Freep Film Festival documentaries also use animation to propel their stories. — Detroit Free Press Staff, Detroit Free Press, "Build your movie-making skills, knowledge at free Freep Film Festival events," 5 Apr. 2018 The animation itself charms: the grays and dark hues of human life in the USSR contrast brilliantly with all the color found in these animals and their new home planet. — Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, "Laika: Forget historic tragedy, this first space dog saves alien planets," 14 Oct. 2018 What about the improvements in the animation itself? — Kathryn Shattuck, New York Times, "Holly Hunter Stretches Into Her Superhero Powers," 19 June 2018 Though if the new version forgoes musical numbers, maybe Caro is just trying to avoid the most unrealistic animation in the entire movie: Mulan removing an entire face of makeup with just one swipe of her sleeve. — Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY, "20 reasons why the live-action ‘Mulan’ should be more like the animated musical," 18 June 2018 The average sea surface temperatures over the tropical Atlantic in March 2017 and March 2018 were within 0.02 degrees (0.01 degrees Celsius) of each other, as apparent in the animation below. — Phil Klotzbach, Washington Post, "The water in the tropical Atlantic is the coldest in decades. That may stymie hurricane season.," 18 June 2018 Incredibles 2, like so many other wonderments from this premier animation house, left a little pebble in my shoe, a pea under the mattress, that kept me from fully embracing it. — Graeme Mcmillan, The Hollywood Reporter, "'The Incredibles 2': What the Critics Are Saying," 11 June 2018 Incredibles 2, like so many other wonderments from this premier animation house, left a little pebble in my shoe, a pea under the mattress, that kept me from fully embracing it. — Richard Lawson, HWD, "Incredibles 2 Review: Superhero Action That’s Familiar, but Fantastic," 11 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'animation.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near animation

Statistics for animation

Last Updated

19 May 2019

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Time Traveler for animation

The first known use of animation was in 1597

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More Definitions for animation

animation

noun

English Language Learners Definition of animation

: a lively or excited quality

: a way of making a movie by using a series of drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of objects (such as puppets or models) that are slightly different from one another and that when viewed quickly one after another create the appearance of movement

: a movie or brief scene that is made this way

See the full definition for animation in the English Language Learners Dictionary

animation

noun

an·i·ma·tion | \ ˌa-nə-ˈmā-shən