What Is An Entertaiment?

A clown at a birthday party, the Broadway show, your friends fighting over the last potato chip—these are all forms of entertainment. The word derives from the Old French entretenir (“to hold together,” and early uses of the word were associated with hospitality—keeping guests happy—but the idea soon broadened to include distraction or amusement. From there, it has branched out into various forms: theatrical as shows and plays, visual as paintings or a stadium rock concert, audio as music.

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘Entertaiment.’ Views expressed in these examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors.