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
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
Clever Creature has been building its slate of international genre projects spanning horror, action and elevated cinema.
—
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 2 Nov. 2025
People no longer have the patience to sit quietly in a dark cinema and dream.
—Gavin J Blair, HollywoodReporter, 2 Nov. 2025
The film's dynamic camerawork, bolstered by a towering cinema screen, adds an aesthetic depth that makes Bella and Edward's romance feel much more palpable.
—Edward Segarra, USA Today, 31 Oct. 2025
Richard Linklater‘s Nouvelle Vague time-travels to the moment right before modern cinema’s big bang, when the French New Wave crested and Godard’s Breathless would change everything.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cinema
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Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 2 Nov. 2025
People no longer have the patience to sit quietly in a dark cinema and dream.
—Gavin J Blair, HollywoodReporter, 2 Nov. 2025
The film's dynamic camerawork, bolstered by a towering cinema screen, adds an aesthetic depth that makes Bella and Edward's romance feel much more palpable.
—Edward Segarra, USA Today, 31 Oct. 2025
Richard Linklater‘s Nouvelle Vague time-travels to the moment right before modern cinema’s big bang, when the French New Wave crested and Godard’s Breathless would change everything.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cinema
Cite this Entry
“Cinema.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cinema. Accessed 4 Nov. 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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