cinema

noun

cin·​e·​ma ˈsi-nə-mə 

 British also  -ˌmä

1

a

: motion picture

—usually used attributively

b

: a motion-picture theater

2

a

: movies

especially : the film industry

b

: the art or technique of making motion pictures

Synonyms

• big screen
• film
• filmdom
• filmland
• filmmaking
• movie
• moviemaking
• pictures
• screen
• silver screen

Examples of cinema in a Sentence

a student of French cinema

We drove by the cinema to see what was playing.

Recent Examples on the Web

But, citing filmmakers like Gus Van Sant and Terrence Malick as inspirations, Nash maintains there's a difference between slow cinema and patient cinema. —Megan McCluskey, TIME, 31 May 2024

Firas Abdullah/Anadolu via Getty Images While Champs-Élysées gets no shortage of visitors, its composition has changed significantly as real estate values have increased, pricing out shops and cinemas that catered to locals. —Adam Gale, Fortune Europe, 29 May 2024

Ingmar Bergman became the 20th-century icon of egghead cinema, yet Bergman, for all the loftiness of his reach, wrote dialogue that could suck the audience in like a whirlpool. —Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 22 May 2024

Sophomore cinema major Moonasia Williams will present it to judges. —Thomas Goodwin Smith, Baltimore Sun, 21 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

short for cinematograph

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing cinema

• cinema verité
• go to the cinema

Kids Definition

cinema

noun

cin·​e·​ma ˈsin-ə-mə 

1

a

: movie sense 2a

a cinema director

b

: a theater for showing movies

went to the cinema

2

a

: the business of making movies

worked in cinema

b

: the art or technique of making movies

a student of French cinema

cinematic

ˌsin-ə-ˈmat-ik

adjective

cinematically

-i-k(ə-)lē

adverb

Etymology

derived from French cinématographe "motion picture," from Greek kinēma "movement" and graphe "picture," from kinein "to move" — related to kinetic