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Infotainment, a blend of "information" and "entertainment," first appeared in the early 1980s. Not everyone approves of "infotainment" and similar pieced-together, media-derived words (e.g., "infomercial" and "edutainment"), however. New York Times Magazine writer Joe Morgenstern referred to "infotainment" as "a plastic word, stuck together with show-biz epoxy." An editorialist for a New England newspaper called it "a nauseating word" that "has crept into the language without an invitation." Unfortunately for such detractors, the word continues to be used today. Not only that, but a new, distinct sense of the word is emerging. People in the automotive industry have recently begun using "infotainment" to refer to the state-of-the-art multimedia technologies (such as GPS systems and Internet radio) now available to drivers at the push of a button.

Examples of infotainment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Only a handful of controls, including the selector for drive modes—Wet, GT, Sport and Corsa—and the dual 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system, are on the center console. — Viju Mathew, Robb Report, "Maserati’s New 630 HP MC20 Is the Marque’s First Supercar in Nearly Two Decades," 27 Feb. 2021 The vehicle gets the remade Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX) infotainment system with voice assistant capability and 50% more processing power than its predecessor. — Nathan Bomey, USA TODAY, "Mercedes-Benz reveals redesigned C-Class with larger body style, advanced safety," 23 Feb. 2021 Using the infotainment system's many functions requires less effort with practice, but most customers will pair and mirror their phones via Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, making the native interface largely redundant. — Tony Quiroga, Car and Driver, "Tested: 2021 Genesis G80 2.5T AWD Introduces Some Choices," 12 Feb. 2021 The automaker behind brands such as Jeep, Dodge and Ram revealed new additions to its Uconnect Market services and the Uconnect 5 infotainment system. — Ryan Zummallen, Star Tribune, "Edmunds: Top automotive tech at CES 2021," 20 Jan. 2021 All-wheel drive is an option for the K5, as is a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment display. — Nicholas Wallace, Car and Driver, "Every New Mid-Size Family Sedan Ranked for 2021," 16 Jan. 2021 However, privacy activists are calling for protections to extend to data collected by many of the other computers in an automobile, including the infotainment system. — NBC News, "Insecure wheels: Police turn to car data to destroy suspects' alibis," 28 Dec. 2020 Maybe all those giant infotainment displays aren't such a good idea after all. — Annie White, Car and Driver, "This Week in Cars: A Porsche Boxster, the Kona N, and a Flying Cadillac," 16 Jan. 2021 Automotive industry experts largely agree that Tesla kick-started the trend of large tablet-style infotainment screens in vehicles with the Model S ultra-luxury sedan. — Nathan Bomey, USA TODAY, "Screens in cars are getting even bigger? Is it safe?," 15 Jan. 2021

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