THEATER Definition & Meaning

View synonyms for

theater

or �ٳ��·��·�ٰ��

[ thee-uh-ter, theeuh- ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a building, part of a building, or outdoor area for housing dramatic performances or stage entertainments, or for showing movies.
the audience at a theatrical performance or movie:
The whole theater was weeping.
a theatrical or acting company.
a room or hall, fitted with tiers of seats rising like steps, used for lectures, surgical demonstrations, etc.:
Students crowded into the operating theater.
the theater, dramatic performances as a branch of art; the field or discipline of staged drama:
an actress devoted to the theater.
Often the theater. dramatic works collectively, as of literature, a nation, or an author:
the theater of Ibsen.
the quality or effectiveness of dramatic performance: bad theater;
good theater;
bad theater;
pure theater.
a place of dramatic action, especially during a war: theater of war.
the Pacific theater during World War II.
Synonyms: , ,
a public display of action or speech that gives a false impression of accomplishing or promising something, merely for the sake of appearances (often used in combination): Public health experts have said that the time and money spent on cleaning may be unnecessary hygiene theater. Forget all his blustering about doing what's best for our city—it's just theater to please his union masters and protect his political base.
Washington D.C.'s Metro transit system has instituted random bag searches, and many travelers are just as unhappy about the security theater on the train as in the airport.
Public health experts have said that the time and money spent on cleaning may be unnecessary hygiene theater.
Companies need to go beyond diversity theater and commit to long-term, concrete metrics for change.
Forget all his blustering about doing what's best for our city—it's just theater to please his union masters and protect his political base.
a natural formation of land rising by steps or gradations.

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Pronunciation Note

Theater, an early Middle English borrowing from French, originally had its primary stress on the second syllable: [tey-, ah, -t, r, uh]. As with many early French borrowings ( beauty, carriage, marriage ), the stress moved to the first syllable, in conformity with a common English pattern of stress, and this pattern remains the standard one for theater today: [thee, -, uh, -ter]. A pronunciation with stress on the second syllable and the vowel [ey], as [thee-, ey, -ter] or sometimes [thee, -ey-ter] is characteristic chiefly of a nonstandard regional pronunciation in the United States that may be perceived as uneducated.

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Other �y��vlog Forms

�Դǲ�·�ٳ��·��·�ٱ�� adjective
��·�ٳ��·��·�ٱ�� adjective

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of theater¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English theatre, from Latin �ٳ��ٰ��ܳ�, from Greek �ٳ�é��ٰ��ǲ� “seeing place, theater,” equivalent to �ٳ��-, stem of �ٳ��â��ٳ󲹾� “to view” + -tron suffix denoting means or place

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The five-time Oscar nominee and her husband, theater director Thomas Kail, reportedly welcomed their latest child together via surrogate more than a month ago.

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Ezban is referring to his latest genre effort, a tonally unpredictable zombie movie titled “Párvulos: Children of the Apocalypse,” which hits theaters across the country on Friday,

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What’s worse is that “Death of a Unicorn” hit theaters close to the same time the far superior satire “Common Side Effects” finished its first season, deriding the same topic.

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On the trade show floor, all manner of vendors were selling the latest popcorn toppings, reclining theater seats, carpet samples and a smart bar that said it would pour the perfect cocktail in four seconds.

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But Cruise put his grief out there and invited others to join him Thursday during an appearance at CinemaCon, the conference of movie theater owners held annually in Las Vegas.

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