live-action

adjective

live-ac·​tion ˈlīv-ˈak-shən How to pronounce live-action (audio)
variants or less commonly live action
1
: of, relating to, or featuring cinematography that is not produced by animation
a live-action film
2
: done or performed live and usually in person
a live-action performance
live-action role-playing games

Examples of live-action in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Last quarter, the U.K. and Canada each saw more live-action, scripted titles with budgets of at least $10 million actively filming within their borders. Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Oct. 2024 Following memorable turns in Tim Burton’s Dumbo, The Last of Us and Searchlight/Hulu’s coming-of-age drama Suncoast, Parker’s upcoming slate includes Universal’s live-action take on How to Train Your Dragon and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy for the same studio. Matt Grobar, Deadline, 23 Oct. 2024 But others like to take things a step further and actually immerse themselves in he scariest haunted houses, which pretty much feels like being on a live-action set of a horror film, complete with gory decor, spine-chilling jump scares and Hollywood-like animatronics. Brittany Anas, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024 If the whatever-within-a TV show-within-a-TV show sounds wildly meta, rest assured that Yu, who wrote the book, served as showrunner to bring his multi-layered narrative to live-action life. Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 22 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for live-action 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'live-action.' 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

1936, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of live-action was in 1936

Dictionary Entries Near live-action

Cite this Entry

“Live-action.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/live-action. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

live-action

adjective
live-ac·​tion
ˈlīv-ˈak-shən
1
: of, relating to, or featuring cinematography that is not produced by animation
2
: done or performed live and usually in person
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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