Entertaiment is amusement or distraction, the clown at a child’s birthday party, the Broadway show, your friends fighting over the last potato chip. It derives from the French entretenement, which is a part of hospitality, keeping guests happy and distracted. We speak of theatrical entertainment as shows, visual entertainment as things to look at and audio entertainment as music. Click on a collocation to see more examples.
This article is part of the Oxford Dictionary of English Archive.