movie

noun

mov·​ie ˈmü-vē 

1

: a recording of moving images that tells a story and that people watch on a screen or television : motion picture

watched a movie after dinner

a movie about the Civil War

an action movie

2

movies plural : a showing of a motion picture especially in a theater

went to the movies last Friday

also : a theater that shows movies

What's playing at the movies?

3

movies plural : the business of making movies : the motion-picture medium or industry

Synonyms

• film
• flick
• flicker
• motion picture
• moving picture
• picture

Examples of movie in a Sentence

He wants to work in the movies.

a career in the movies

Recent Examples on the Web

Jim Carrey starred as The Grinch in a 2000 Ron Howard movie, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and the story was later adapted as an animation by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment as The Grinch in 2018. —Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 20 June 2025

Featuring mid-scale buildable models of the most iconic Star Wars ships, including the Millennium Falcon and the Tantive IV, which holds the distinction of being the first ever starship to appear in a Star Wars movie. —Paul Brett, Space.com, 20 June 2025

In the 1958 Hollywood movie, Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman, a giantess played by Allison Hayes squashed men like bugs until the town sheriff killed her. —Jane Smiley june 20, Literary Hub, 20 June 2025

The community area is dedicated to events, movie nights and more. —Andrea Onate, Footwear News, 20 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

moving picture

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing movie

• B movie
• home movie
• movie house

Rhymes for movie

• groovy

Kids Definition

movie

noun

mov·​ie ˈmü-vē 

1

: motion picture sense 1

2

a

: a story represented in motion pictures

b

pl : a showing of a movie

went to the movies yesterday

3

plural : the business of making movies : the motion-picture industry