matinee

noun

mat·​i·​nee ˌma-tə-ˈnā 

variants or matinée

: a musical or dramatic performance or social or public event held in the daytime and especially the afternoon

The Saturday matinee was so crowded that we had to sit in the second row.

Did you know?

Soiree: A Fancy Evening Party

In English, soiree means “a fancy evening affair.” The word comes directly from French and was formed from the word soir, meaning “evening” or “night.” The French make a subtle distinction between soir, which refers explicitly to the time of day following sunset, and soirée, which refers to some duration of time, usually translated as “evening.” English speakers don’t use different words, but we understand the difference between “I’ll see you tomorrow evening” and “We spent the evening playing cards”—one refers to a time of day and one refers to the passage of time. From the idea of a period of time evolved the second meaning of soirée: a party that takes place during the evening. As is typical for words that have been borrowed from modern French, soiree in English signifies the fancy version of a simple “party”: an evening event that is formal or refined in some way.

A third sense of soirée in French, “an evening performance,” has a parallel with matinée, from matin “morning. ” Matinée literally means “morning performance” in French but has come to mean “daytime or afternoon performance” in English. The “evening performance” meaning of soirée has not been adopted by English. Our Unabridged of 1934, however, did record both a verb soiree (meaning, presumably, “to hold or attend an evening party”) and the variant swarry, “so spelled in mimicry of mispronunciation.”

Soiree can be spelled in English using the acute accent as soirée, but is usually spelled without it.

Examples of matinee in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Both teams were torrid to start the matinee with each shooting 7 for 10 from 3-point range in the first six-plus minutes and both the Blazers and Nuggets hitting better than 70% of their shots. —ABC News, 22 Mar. 2026

Getting a home win in a matinee Sunday will be tough. —Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 20 Mar. 2026

The plays will be staged on back-to-back weekends, May 15-17 and May 22-24, at the Little Theatre, Building D-121, with evening and matinee performances to be announced. —Greg Mellen, Oc Register, 18 Mar. 2026

The team behind Hamilton generated plenty of revenue by selling expensive tickets, but also ran lotteries for $10 tickets and partnered with local public schools so students could see $10 matinees. —Alex Mayyasi, NPR, 17 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

French matinée, literally, morning, from Old French, from matin morning, from Latin matutinum, from neuter of matutinus of the morning, from Matuta, goddess of morning; akin to Latin maturus ripe — more at mature

First Known Use

1848, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing matinee

• matinee idol

Rhymes for matinee

• airway
• allay
• archway
• array
• ashtray
• astray
• aue
• away
• ballet
• belay
• beltway
• beret

Kids Definition

matinee

noun

mat·​i·​nee

variants or matinée

ˌmat-ᵊn-ˈā 

: a theatrical performance held in the daytime and especially in the afternoon