plural cartoons
1
: a preparatory design, drawing, or painting (as for a fresco)
2
a
: a drawing intended as satire, caricature, or humor
a political cartoon
a cartoon drawing
b
: a group of drawings in narrative sequence : comic strip
3
: a video (such as a television show or movie) that is made from a series of drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of inanimate objects (such as puppets) and that simulates movement by slight progressive changes in each frame : animated cartoon
4
: a ludicrously simplistic, unrealistic, or one-dimensional portrayal or version
The film's villain is an entertaining cartoon.
cartoon
verb
cartoonishly
adverb
Examples of cartoon in a Sentence
She enjoys reading the cartoons in the Sunday paper.
The kids are watching cartoons.
Recent Examples on the Web
Director Dean Fleischer Camp’s family adventure feels like an excessively earnest Disney Channel movie compared with the delightfully unhinged 2002 cartoon.
—
Brian Truitt, USA Today, 21 May 2025
Hollywood as a city where humans and cartoons uneasily coexist—most notably in the segregated Toontown.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 21 May 2025
A couple of clicks on a laptop later, and an artificial intelligence tool synced Mr. Peck’s voice with a cartoon pirate’s mouth movements.
—Brooks Barnes, New York Times, 21 May 2025
Test your knowledge of classic New Yorker cartoons.
—Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 19 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cartoon
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Brian Truitt, USA Today, 21 May 2025
Hollywood as a city where humans and cartoons uneasily coexist—most notably in the segregated Toontown.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 21 May 2025
A couple of clicks on a laptop later, and an artificial intelligence tool synced Mr. Peck’s voice with a cartoon pirate’s mouth movements.
—Brooks Barnes, New York Times, 21 May 2025
Test your knowledge of classic New Yorker cartoons.
—Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 19 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cartoon
Cite this Entry
“Cartoon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cartoon. Accessed 29 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cartoon
noun
car·toon
kär-ˈtün 
1
: a design, drawing, or painting made as a model for the finished work
2
a
: a drawing intended as a humorous comment on public affairs
b
3
Etymology
from Italian cartone "pasteboard, a sketch of a planned drawing or painting done on heavy paper," from carta "sheet of paper," from Latin charta "piece of papyrus" — related to card entry 3, carton
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