The clown at a birthday party, the Broadway show, your friends fighting over the last potato chip—these are all examples of entertainment. The word comes from the Latin entretenere, which means “to hold together,” and it was associated with hospitality—the practice of entertaining guests (think Shakespeare). Today we use it to refer to anything that gives pleasure or diversion: a restaurant where food is served, a sports game, a movie, a crossword puzzle.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘Entertaiment.’ Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors.