1,400 new words in our dictionary!Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary!More

Word of the Day:

July 27, 2013

cineast

noun SIN-ee-ast

What it Means

: a devotee of motion pictures; also : moviemaker

Cineast in Context

The once modest film festival is now a huge commercial event that draws cineasts and movie-industry insiders from around the world.

"This just strikes me as a film that cineasts will savor, but the general public might have trouble digesting, considering how bleak and disturbing so many scenes are." - From an article by Bob Tremblay in the Allston-Brighton TAB (Massachusetts), July 13, 2012

More example sentences

Did You Know?

"Cineast" is a French borrowing that made its American premiere in the mid-1920s. The French spliced together "ciné" and "-aste" to create "cinéaste," a word for a filmmaker or movie director. "Ciné" in French is just another word for "cinema," and "-aste" is a suffix that appears in words like "gymnaste" and "enthousiaste." "Cinéaste" underwent several changes once it was established in English. Some writers anglicized its spelling, shortening "-aste" to "-ast" (although "cineaste" and "cinéaste" are also still used). Others began to use "cineast" to mean "film buff," and that's the sense that is most common today.

Name That Synonym

What 9-letter word is both a synonym and relative of "cineaste"? The answer is …

Daily Challenge

Want to listen to the Word of the Day instead?