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
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
And David invited all to glimpse into that world through his exquisite storytelling, which elevated cinema and inspired generations of filmmakers across the globe.
—
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 17 Jan. 2025
The risk of Surrealistic cinema is that its main inventions are conceptual—creating the wildness on the page and merely executing it on the screen.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025
So overheard the film critic Pauline Kael after a showing of Blue Velvet.
David Lynch, the filmmaker whose singular vision reshaped the boundaries of cinema and seeped into the broader culture, has died at the age of 78.
—Darryn King, Forbes, 17 Jan. 2025
By introducing a new free loyalty tier to its AMC Stubs program, AMC is looking to reward audiences for the number of cinema tickets purchased or points accumulated, rather than paying a membership fee.
—Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for cinema 
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Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 17 Jan. 2025
The risk of Surrealistic cinema is that its main inventions are conceptual—creating the wildness on the page and merely executing it on the screen.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025
So overheard the film critic Pauline Kael after a showing of Blue Velvet.
David Lynch, the filmmaker whose singular vision reshaped the boundaries of cinema and seeped into the broader culture, has died at the age of 78.
—Darryn King, Forbes, 17 Jan. 2025
By introducing a new free loyalty tier to its AMC Stubs program, AMC is looking to reward audiences for the number of cinema tickets purchased or points accumulated, rather than paying a membership fee.
—Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for cinema
Dictionary Entries Near cinema
Cite this Entry
“Cinema.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cinema. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids 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
adjective
ˌsin-ə-ˈmat-ik
cinematically
adverb
-i-k(ə-)lē
Etymology
derived from French cinématographe "motion picture," from Greek kinēma "movement" and graphe "picture," from kinein "to move" — related to kinetic
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