nontheatrical

adjective

non·​the·​at·​ri·​cal ˌnän-thē-ˈa-tri-kəl How to pronounce nontheatrical (audio)
1
: not theatrical : not of or relating to the theater or the presentation of plays
a nontheatrical concert performance
2
: not intended for or involving performance in a motion-picture theater
nontheatrical educational films
a movie made for nontheatrical distribution
the nontheatrical market

Examples of nontheatrical in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Two maligned nontheatrical sequels followed. Brian Contreras, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2023 And as for the five subsequent movies, Fox has theatrical, nontheatrical, and home video rights worldwide through May 2020. Lee Hutchinson, Ars Technica, 6 Nov. 2017 But DreamWorks could never escape investor impatience with its rocky box-office returns, and the studio was too small for its nontheatrical department to pick up the slack. Erich Schwartzel, WSJ, 10 Oct. 2017 Still, there’s already a long history of movies being cleaned up for nontheatrical viewers; the difference now is that viewers will be able to purchase them directly from Sony—albeit as bonus material. Laura Bradley, vanityfair.com, 13 June 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nontheatrical.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1885, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of nontheatrical was in 1885

Dictionary Entries Near nontheatrical

Cite this Entry

“Nontheatrical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nontheatrical. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on nontheatrical

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!