nickelodeon

noun

nick·​el·​ode·​on ˌni-kə-ˈlō-dē-ən How to pronounce nickelodeon (audio)
1
: an early movie theater to which admission usually cost five cents
2

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Among the stops on the Streets were the Usinger's sausage-making window, a nickelodeon that showed short silent films, a drugstore, a stable and a candy store. Chris Foran, Journal Sentinel, 13 Feb. 2023 The concept was as simple as a soda machine, as efficient as a cafeteria, and as magical as a nickelodeon. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 24 Feb. 2022 Signing up a music-minded teenager who can write code to program this three-legged psychedelic nickelodeon? Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2021 By 1909, there were 42 nickelodeons adjacent to the Lower East Side and 10 uptown in Jewish Harlem. Jamie Lauren Keiles, Vox, 21 Dec. 2018 The picture would be shown only in little Main Street nickelodeons, where his friends would never set foot. Longreads, 15 May 2018 Around the turn of the 20th century, storefront nickelodeon movie theaters joined saloons, dance halls and bowling alleys as city gathering points. John Jurgensen, WSJ, 4 June 2018 For over a century, the building was a neighborhood cornerstone, first as a church, then as an athletic club, and later as a nickelodeon that drew hundreds of attendees a day to its Yiddish vaudeville performances. Luis FerrÉ-sadurnÍ, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2018 New York rabbi and cultural anthropologist Joshua Eli Plaut noted there were 42 nickelodeons — 5 cent movies — in the neighborhood, the most in the city. Andrew Wolfson, The Courier-Journal, 15 Dec. 2017 See More

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

Word History

Etymology

probably from nickel + -odeon (as in melodeon music hall)

First Known Use

1888, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of nickelodeon was in 1888

Dictionary Entries Near nickelodeon

Cite this Entry

“Nickelodeon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nickelodeon. Accessed 29 Mar. 2023.

Kids Definition

nickelodeon

noun
nick·​el·​ode·​on ˌnik-ə-ˈlōd-ē-ən How to pronounce nickelodeon (audio)
1
: an early movie theater charging five cents for admission
2
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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