cartoon

noun

car·​toon kär-ˈtün How to pronounce cartoon (audio)
often attributive
1
: a preparatory design, drawing, or painting (as for a fresco)
2
a
: a drawing intended as satire, caricature, or humor
a political cartoon
3
4
: a ludicrously simplistic, unrealistic, or one-dimensional portrayal or version
the film's villain is an entertaining cartoon
cartoon verb
cartooning noun
cartoonish adjective
cartoonishly adverb
cartoonist noun
cartoonlike adjective
cartoony adjective

Examples of cartoon in a Sentence

She enjoys reading the cartoons in the Sunday paper. The kids are watching cartoons.
Recent Examples on the Web Her eyes pop like those of a cartoon character who’s just seen an especially tasty pie. Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024 Walker says Villeneuve cited Chuck Jones’ Road Runner cartoons as a major influence. Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 4 Mar. 2024 That post was quickly followed by another, this one a video of Robinson in the studio playing a very elastic-y sounding electronic track with a rave light behind him and cartoon face — potentially a logo or cover art for the new project — layered over his head. Katie Bain, Billboard, 1 Mar. 2024 The single-panel cartoon appeared in nearly 1,500 newspapers by the 1990s. Jeff Suess, The Enquirer, 27 Feb. 2024 It was illustrated with an unflattering cartoon of Disney’s board throwing spaghetti at a wall. Stacy Perman, Los Angeles Times, 26 Feb. 2024 Last week, a cartoon was circulated on Instagram by pro-Palestinian student groups, showing a hand marked with a star of David and a dollar sign holding nooses around the necks of a Black man and an Arab. Anemona Hartocollis, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2024 In other words: the genocidal mind is not the preserve of cartoon monsters safely tucked away in history books. Hazlitt, 6 Mar. 2024 Even so, the cartoon given here is a reasonable statement about what exists today. Jaron Lanier, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2024

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

Word History

Etymology

Italian cartone pasteboard, cartoon, augmentative of carta leaf of paper — more at card entry 1

First Known Use

1671, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of cartoon was in 1671

Dictionary Entries Near cartoon

Cite this Entry

“Cartoon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cartoon. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

cartoon

noun
car·​toon kär-ˈtün How to pronounce cartoon (audio)
1
: a design, drawing, or painting made as a model for the finished work
2
a
: a drawing intended as a humorous comment on public affairs
3
cartoonist noun
Etymology

from Italian cartone "pasteboard, a sketch of a planned drawing or painting done on heavy paper," from carta "sheet of paper," from Latin charta "piece of papyrus" — related to card entry 3, carton

More from Merriam-Webster on cartoon

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