The clown at a birthday party, a Broadway show, a stadium rock concert, your friends fighting over the last potato chip—all of these are forms of entertainment. From the Old French entretenir, to support or entertain, we use entertainment to amuse and distract ourselves. We talk about theatrical entertainment as shows, visual entertainment as things you like to look at, and audio entertainment as mostly music. Click on a collocation to see more examples.

Article written by the Cambridge Dictionary editorial team.